


Coincidentally Fortunate Events

by starlightisms



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Heists, Pandora - Freeform, but in the bh6 world and such, it's mostly kaito and conan interaction tbh, post-BH6
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-31 07:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3969541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightisms/pseuds/starlightisms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As it turns out, being within a 10-foot radius of an object of power while attempting to destroy said object is not a good idea. At all. Conan and Kaito had to learn that the hard way. Now, how do they get back home...? </p><p>[ “I don't believe in coincidence, and I don't believe in fate, either.” / “Is that why both of them hate you?” ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _"Coincidences mean you're on the right path."_   
>  _\- from Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories, by Simon van Booy_

The heist started out like heists usually do.

A note. A riddle. A date and a time. A gathering, for the show. And then? 

Screams and smoke and shouts and absolute _chaos_. Kaitou Kid was an happy expert in giving a hand to things like that, as regulars to the magic and mayhem knew all too well. 

Confetti and profanities flew through the air as Kaitou Kid vanished in a cackling puff of smoke, the Teardrop Diamond clutched firmly in hand. Nakamori-keibu swore loudly at the fading laughter before he caught a glimpse of white rounding the corner. “He’s headed for the left side of the building, don’t let him escape!” the inspector roared to his men, and the entire horde of police officers chased after the phantom thief.

While the Task Force pursued what _appeared_ to be the Kid, considering it wouldn’t be the first time they were fooled by a motorized dummy, Conan turned away from the officers and dashed up the stairs instead. He knew the thief preferred flying off whenever possible - partially because of Kid’s love of dramatics, he reasoned, and partially because it was really difficult to catch the guy once he was in the air without putting _someone’s_ life in danger - and the weather tonight was perfect for an airborne getaway. Irresistibly perfect. 

Sprinting upwards to the higher levels of the building, Conan kept his steps as light as possible as he scaled the many floors. A couple minutes later, he paused beside the door led out to the roof. Even though he’d checked and found the door locked beforehand, it now moved easily at his touch, confirming that Kid had been planning to make his way up here eventually. In silence, turning on his night-vision lenses, Conan cracked the door open a fraction and peered outside. 

Nobody was there. Carefully, Conan stepped through the doorway, closed it behind him, and crept across the shadows on the edge of the building. Picking out the far corner that put the moon at his back, Conan tucked himself into the darkness and waited, tranquilizer watch clicking open in preparation.

Not long afterwards, the door swung open again.

Kaitou Kid walked easily onto the roof in all his trademark white glory, tossing the diamond almost carelessly between his hands as he shut the door behind him with a backwards kick. Then, he proceeded towards the center of the roof, shoes sounding softly on the ground.

Conan raised his watch but hesitated before pressing the button, watching curiously as the thief stopped in the middle of the area, looked around, and then raised the diamond to the night sky. At first glance, it seemed like Kid was admiring the gem in the moonlight. Well, that was normal enough. He did so rather often. In fact, every time Conan had seen him, he’d always held up that night’s prize like that, just before returning it… 

But before he could continue that curious line of thought, the blue diamond inexplicably flashed a brilliant _red_ color, like a ruby before a flashlight, shining fiercely. 

Startled, Conan froze as the thief gasped and vanished the Teardrop Diamond with a swift sleight of hand. From his perspective, he could see Kid shaking slightly, the gem shining crimson within an inside pocket over his heart.

Eerily, the light it cast look very much like… blood. It was a startling image, especially for Kaitou Kid, whose policy centered so much around nonviolence. Startling to see the red taint his infamously white suit, from within no less.

Thankfully, the light faded quickly once it was out of the moonlight, taking away with it the disturbing red color.

Conan got to his feet, metaphorical gears turning in his head. “Kaitou Kid,” he said, and the thief actually _jumped,_ surprised, and spun around to face him. The moonlight glared harshly off of the monocle, but the other eye was visibly wide, blue, and shimmering with some sort of emotion, partially obscured under a faltering mask.

“Tantei-kun,” came the obligatory but half-hearted reply. 

Keeping his eyes on where he knew the gem to be, Conan asked slowly, “What was that?”

With a fluid shrug, Kid averted his gaze. Turning slightly to the side, he seemed to be puzzling over what to say for a moment, before opening his mouth - and suddenly stilled, both he and Conan registering the sound of footsteps pounding on the stairs.

If it hadn’t already, it was around then the heist went completely sideways. 

In a single second, Kid _moved_ , his cape fluttering as he stood between Conan and the door, looking for all the world like he'd been in that spot the entire time, blocking Conan's line of sight. Or, he realized, blocking the line of sight of whoever was coming up.

The door slammed open with a loud clatter. “Kaitou Kid!” an unfamiliar voice shouted. “Hand over the jewel!”

Conan didn’t see the speaker, but the voice didn’t belong to any officer he knew. Probably didn’t belong to any officer at all, actually. “Good evening, Snake,” the thief greeted cheerfully, all traces of past emotions wiped clean from his expression. He put his hands into his pant pockets casually. “I was wondering when you and your goons would catch up to me! A bit slow tonight, aren’t we?”

“Shut up!” ‘Snake’ snarled, and Conan’s stomach filled with dread when he heard the horribly familiar _click_ of a gun’s safety being disengaged. Definitely not a police officer. “Hand over the diamond!”

“It’s not the jewel you’re looking for, you know,” Kid said, slowly withdrawing his hand from his pocket, a gleaming gem in hand. A fake. Because the real one was sitting in the magician’s chest pocket. Because the real one didn’t glint in the moonlight like a normal diamond, it glowed red. But this Snake didn’t know that, which was at least another point in Kid’s favor, not that the said thief usually needed those points. 

Making himself as small as possible, thankful that both Kid and the shadows concealed his presence, Conan set a finger on his right shoe’s dial, and his other hand on his belt, reading to kick a soccer ball when needed. He refused to allow another person die before him. Not even Kaitou Kid; he never wanted the thief dead, just - stopped. Maybe not even that. “I’ll check that for myself,” Snake growled.

Red flickered at the edge of Conan's vision, and for a moment he worried that the gem was glowing again. That would have been disastrous, and would have probably given away that the gem Kid held was fake, if this man knew what he was looking for. It wasn’t the gem, though. No, it was at the back of Kid's head, not his chest, and much too small in radius…

“No need for that.” Kid dropped the fake and kicked it over, still unaware of the glowing red dot. “But suit yourself.”

The answer hit Conan like a freight train - a laser sight. A _sniper’s_ laser sight. Right now, while the white-clad magician under the moonlight focused on the blatant threat in front of him, he'd never notice a sniper from behind. At least, not until it was already too late. Not to mention he was pointedly pretending that Conan didn’t exist, so it was even more unlikely that the thief would look backwards.

There was no time to explain. Conan shouted, “Duck, Kid!” as he inflated his belt's soccer ball and kicked it before it could even hit the floor. Half-turning towards him, Kid opened his mouth, but all he saw was the ball hurtling towards him. 

See, after the first few times of getting hit or even just getting grazed as it blasted by, he'd learned very well what the sparking blur of white and black meant: Pain.

So he habitually ducked, just as a bullet popped the ball where the his head had been only moments before. 

For a heartbeat, everything stopped. 

Then, Snake cursed and fired off his own unsilenced gun with a resounding _crack!,_ but missed as Kid dodged safely away from the bullet, having started to move just a split second before the gunman fired.

Conan caught Snake in the crosshairs of his watch, fortunately out of the unseen sniper's range by pressing up against the low wall that outlined the roof. However, when the man currently _on_ the roof turned his gun on him, Conan was forced to scramble away as a bullet bounced off the bricks where he’d been crouching.

“Tantei-kun!” Kid shouted.

To Conan's horror, the little red laser dot reappeared and slid across the ground, climbing Kid's frame until it stopped at his head, quivering slightly. “The sniper again, duck!” he shouted in warning, keeping himself pressed against the wall.

As it was, there wasn’t need to worry; Kid was nothing if not agile and fast. He changed his path of travel to an unpredictable collection of movements, easily leaving the dot far behind him as he moved, and came up right beside Conan - safe from the unknown sniper as well. But not out of the fire, not yet. Holding out his cape slightly, Kid shielded the small detective from Snake’s line of sight, although Conan didn’t care for such protection, especially since _his_ sight was now hindered, too. 

“Oh, isn't that the brat everyone calls the Kid Killer?” Snake chuckled lowly, kneeling to scoop up the counterfeit gem and put it away without so much as a second glance at it. “Tell you what, little boy, we'll _actually_ kill him for you, what do you think of that? You can go ahead and run on home.”

“Go to he - mmph!” Conan's snappish retort was cut off when Kid clamped a gloved hand over his mouth. 

“Don't,” Kid warned, and Conan wasn't sure if he was addressing Snake or himself. 

Speaking of ‘Snake’... That was likely a codename. Which implied that he belonged to an organization or some sort. And he was wearing black... Conan hoped it wasn't the crows that he was chasing. It shouldn't be, since snakes were animals. And there wasn't any wine that he knew of that was called Snake, although admittedly sake sounded rather close -

Wait. Snake... What about snake wine? Alcohol infused with a snake's dead body. A revolting concept, doubtlessly, but alcohol all the same.

Conan's eyes widened, more bits and pieces clicking into place as Kid bantered away with the gunman, still protectively hovering over him. In the past, bystanders had reported strange sounds during Kid heists - gunshots. But they were always forgotten quickly. And Kid's sometimes jerky, erratic flight paths despite the occasional lack of helicopters - dodging bullets that only he knew about. Stealing the jewels and returning them, in such a fashion that it couldn't be anything other than a search pattern, the little notes saying that this wasn't the gem he was looking for, so he'd return them - trying to find something and take it, protect it, before someone less savory did. Maybe a group of such people - maybe something as extensive as a very specific Organization.

And it couldn't be two different syndicates operating separately, not so close. Not if even one of them was as big as the one that Conan knew. Turf wars would inevitably ensue, and many more mysteriously unidentified men in black would be found dead in the streets. 

There was no doubt about it. And the realization was striking. Kaitou Kid was not stealing for the show.

He was stealing to actively undermine the organization, _The_ Black Organization. Alone. Avoiding even the law - because who knew what infiltrators had allowed the crows to sink their claws so deep into the police?

“Kid,” Conan said quietly, so softly that Snake wouldn't hear him. “You're fighting against _Them?”_

No verbal response, but Kid's smirk widened marginally, head tipping ever so slightly to the side in acknowledgement.

“-to shoot the brat,” Snake was saying. “Your cape is rather flimsy protection, you know. Sure, you can glide on it all you want, but silk is easy enough for a bullet to punch through at this range.”

“Not if you don't have the gun,” Kid said matter-of-factly, raising his card gun and firing it in a single motion. 

Unfortunately, the razor-edged projectile didn't manage to hit its intended target. Moving his arm, Snake jerked his firearm out of the way before the card could knock it out of his hands. In retaliation, he fired off a couple of bullets. 

Kid grabbed Conan's arm and pulled him along as they avoided the shots, running alongside the low wall. However, it was only a matter of time before they ran out of space and were forced out into the open, where the sniper could take aim and shoot at them from whatever building he or she was hiding on.

Safety or not, getting pulled around was _not_ fun, and Conan had enough of that already with Ran and Kogorou and even the other Detective Boys with their penchant for trouble. For the thousandth time, he cursed his status and the organization that had forced him into it.

With a quick twist, Conan freed himself from Kid’s grip and darted a few steps away, keeping a careful eye on the gunman. Indigo blue eyes - only bare shades different from his own - whipped around to stare at him questioningly, and Conan said in a firm voice, “I don’t need to be babied.”

For a moment, Kid blinked at him, and then he smirked slightly. “Your size says otherwise, tantei-kun.”

Before Conan could retort, he was interrupted by a bullet streaking by too close for comfort, causing pain to flare across his cheek. Reeling back, Conan pressed a palm on the injury. The sticky wetness he felt indicated that there was a bit of blood dripping down his face. 

A grazing shot. 

Kid twisted to face Snake, eyes flashing dangerously, but the other man spoke first.

“Tell the brat to stay out of this, we’ll get to him later. Tonight, I'll get rid of _you,_ once and for all!” Snake snarled at the thief, reloading his gun. However, before he could carry out that threat, in that brief moment where the man couldn't shoot them, Kid took aim with his card gun and let loose a consecutive stream of shots, forcing the assassin to step back or risk getting cut open by the relentless barrage. 

“Nope, not tonight,” Kid disagreed with a dangerous smile.

“Don't be so sure about that,” Snake hissed, kicking away one of the cards that had embedded itself into the ground beside his feet. “Fire!”

Conan’s eyes widened, realizing that when Snake had backed away, Kid had stepped forward to maintain distance, and now he was just enough in the sniper’s range. 

The thief realized it as well, but it was a moment too late - as he spun around, monocle’s charm swinging wildly at the sudden move, a bullet slammed into his chest, and he stumbled.

Snake laughed and gloated when the kaitou pushed himself back into the safer shadows, leaning against the wall beside Conan, sinking onto one knee. However, Conan had noticed something else; there’d been an odd pinging sound when the bullet had hit, plus another muffled noise somewhere off to the the side immediately after.

Dare he hope…? 

Kid hissed in a quick breath when Conan pulled his hands away from his chest, and broke into a cough - dry and bloodless, Conan noted with rising confidence. As soon as the thief’s hands fell away, though, the Teardrop Diamond rolled out of the torn pocket and onto the thief’s lap. Conan breathed a sigh of relief when the diamond slid away and revealed no blood beneath it, taking a second to thank Kid’s apparently never-ending streak of luck.

“I’m okay,” Kid murmured breathily, shaking his head and slowly rising back onto his feet. “Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Pan - the diamond, though.”

The jewel clattered noisily onto the ground as Kid moved. Conan blinked and look down at it, realizing that the bullet had actually bit into the diamond somewhat before rebounding off to the side, thus tearing the diamond into two chunks plus a lot of shards, but… That didn’t make much sense. Yes, bullets could in fact shatter diamonds, but the main word there was _shatter._

Not _redirect to the side after hitting halfway._

Red seemed to flash across the remains, which reminded Conan of the strange newly discovered property of the diamond, so he adjusted himself to stand over it in such a way that his shadow would hide it from the moonlight.

Approaching clunking steps reminded Conan of the gunman, and he turned towards the advancing Snake. His hand automatically went towards his watch to flip it open, but he stilled when Snake pointed his gun at him. “Brat,” he growled, “move over. Now.”

Conan did not move. In his peripheral vision, the pieces of the broken diamond glittered just behind his heels. Undiscovered so far, but there all the same.

_“Now,_ brat. Unless you want me to kill you right here.”

Conan still refused to budge, but Kid clamped a hand on his shoulder and pulled him slightly backwards, stepping forward once to stand beside him. “Snake, you’re supposed to treat kids kindly,” the thief said, sounding like he was _lecturing,_ of all things. A grin was poised on his face again. “They’ll only get madder and more vicious if you call them brats.”

Snake responded by shooting at Conan, who instinctively rolled to the side for safety.

Belatedly, the error of his action clicked, and Conan scrambled to abort the movement mid-roll, but only resulted in slipping and almost tripping himself. He cursed as he leapt back up, knowing that the reaction would be too fast for him to stop.

Moonlight struck the Teardrop Diamond, and not even a heartbeat later, the jewel flared up in red, sparking, and then burst into a brilliant crimson light show that nearly blinded everyone on the roof.

Snake squinted into the light show, holding up a forearm to protect his eyes. “What the - is that-?”

Peering at the light as well, Conan found himself somehow transfixed by the jewel despite its bright display and the rather perilous situation, noticing something twisting within the core of the broken diamond. A deeper red than the light, a small pearlescent sheen in one of the pieces. A little sphere of something... _other_. 

Unable to tear his eyes away, Conan shivered. 

After a moment, the light dimmed to a point where someone could easily look at it straight-on without getting blinded, and the smaller pieces had stopped shining altogether. The largest chunk of the diamond had a pulsing glow instead of the previous steady light, and its original blue could be seen just under the red, as if it wasn't the diamond itself glowing, but something trapped inside it.

Snake roared, “Finally!” as he lunged forward, hands outstretched to snatch up the jewel, dropping his gun carelessly, some crazed look gleaming in his darkened eyes. 

Before he could move more than an inch, though, Conan snapped out of his slight trance and took one step, lashing out in a powerful kick with shoes turned up to full power. There was a sickening crack as the bones in Snake's hand broke under the impact, the limb rebounding back to smack the man in the face. 

While the assassin howled in rage and retreated half a step, Conan swooped in and scooped up the diamond - trying very hard to ignore the sudden chill in his body as he did so, and the way it felt like a beating heart - and pressed himself against the wall again. 

Kid shot a card at Snake to ensure he’d be thrown fully off balance. Then, he blinked and looked at the doors.

Conan glanced over, noticing the sound as well; multiple sets of feet were tromping up the stairs, accompanied by a familiar yelling of profanities. The Task Force had finally caught up, apparently. Idly, Conan briefly wondered exactly what had occupied them for so long… Except if Kid’s sudden increase in smiling - a wide, genuine grin - was any indication, it probably wasn’t very delightful for the officers.

Poor police - the majority of them just couldn’t keep up with Kaitou Kid’s unorthodox methods.

Broken out of his thoughts by Snake attempting another grab in desperation, Conan dodged out of the way of the clumsy lunge. A bullet bit onto the floor right beside his sneaker, and he hesitated; he'd reached the edge of the sniper's range. 

Snake snarled and grabbed his radio. “Don't shoot, you fool!” Snake barked into it. “He’s got the jewel in his hands!” He glanced to the stairs, where the steps were rapidly increasing in sound. “And the police are coming, so we’re pulling out!” 

As if his words summoned them, the Task Force swarmed onto the roof half a second later, Inspector Nakamori leading them as always. However, they froze upon seeing the scene - a man in black picking up the gun at his feet, Conan at Kid's side.

The thin line of red on Conan’s cheek, the bullet hole in the front of Kid’s suit.

“You!” Nakamori shouted, overcoming his shock. “Drop the gun!”

Snake paid him no heed, but didn't shoot anyway. Kid grinned. “Can't risk hitting this thing, can you?” he sang, leaning over and poking at Conan’s clenched fist, where the chunk of diamond lay. Just then, something shifted in Conan's hand, and he glanced at the jewel in his grasp. His eyes widened.

A little red oval-shaped gem sat against his palm, pulsating, and the remaining piece of the Teardrop Diamond had returned to its original blue hue. Two separate items. They clinked against each other when Conan tightened his grip on them. 

Then, Kid intervened and gently took both items in hand, concealing the red oval up his sleeve with a little flick of his wrist before anyone else could see. Conan didn’t point it out either. “Keibu,” the thief greeted, warmly. Like they were old friends, rather than adversaries. In comparison to his interactions with Snake, they practically were. Kid picked up the other shards of the diamond as he continued, “It seems that this Teardrop Diamond was in fact the jewel that I have been looking for. However, there was an unfortunate accident, and I am pained to inform you that it will have to be returned in a condition not quite the same as the pristine one I have found it in. My humblest apologies, keibu.” 

“Dammit, Kid!” Confusion took the edge off of the insult, though. “What's going on?”

“I,” Kid said, in clear but soft tone, “am now retiring. Kaitou Kid has achieved his purpose. So; with this, I bid you all, _adieu.”_ And he hurled the remains of the Teardrop Diamond at the inspector.

Many things happened at once. 

Snake scrambled to catch the pieces, but the other Task Force members cut him off, dogpiling him like they once did to Kid. Nakamori fumbled with the shards, but caught the largest chunks. Kid stepped up on the railing, the small red oval in one hand and the card gun pointed at it in the other, and Conan impulsively grabbed the thief's sleeve, a question in his throat, knowing somehow that if he lost this chance to ask, he’d likely never have it again. 

Two shots sounded at the same time. 

A razor-edged card sliced at a red gem, and a sharpened projectile rebounded off a monocle. 

A white-clad magician flinched, lost his balance, and fell. 

A little detective fell with him, pulled along. 

A police inspector ran to the edge, shouting.

A shattered monocle hit the ground, dozens of stories below. 

But nothing else did. 

* * *

 

Conan's vision exploded into a burst of ruby lights, and he suddenly felt like he was flying. 

No, not quite flying. He'd experienced flight before, in hang gliders and paragliders and even the occasional flat-out falling, but this felt vastly different - it was more of a tingling weightless feeling, similar to a zero-g atmosphere. And windless, too.

Without warning, another flash of red brightness suddenly flared up, and even though Conan’s eyelids were squeezed shut, the light still managed to burn itself into his eyes. Shortly afterwards, once it faded, he blinked the lingering spots out of his vision, and then noticed that everything he was seeing was devastatingly _wrong_. 

All around him, instead of buildings and streetlights and the dark expanse of night skies, there were strange clouds floating past on a backdrop of purple tinted with red and blue, littered with distant lights and broken debris. Broken debris that _flew around_ , as if it was riding on a gale of wind. Except wind didn’t move chunks of concrete, and especially not wind that Conan couldn’t even feel.

Where in the world _was_ he?

Trying to get a better look around, Conan attempted to move out of his stomach-downward position, but there was a grunting sound and something held him tighter in place to stop him. Someone. White fabric rippled at the edge of Conan's vision, and he linked name to body.

“I think we just died,” Kaitou Kid said, in an uncharacteristically small voice. “Yup. We're dead.”

Pause. “Idiot,” Conan snapped, ignoring the fact that he'd taken a moment to make sure he could feel both his own and Kid's heartbeat. “Neither of us will die that easily, you know.” 

“Well then, all-knowing meitantei-san, where are we?” Kid replied, challenging, sounding like he was _pouting_. 

With an annoyed sigh, Conan turned slightly to the side to get a better view of the space around them. “Maybe the diamond contained a hallucinogenic gas trapped in the center, or something, and we were contaminated with it since both of us were in close range when it broke, except that's a bit-”

“Impossible?” Kid cut in wryly. 

“If it's what’s currently happening to us, then only _improbable_.” 

With a snort, Kid shifted Conan in his arms. The smaller boy glanced backwards to see that while Kid did have his hang glider deployed and they were in the right position for gliding, it wasn't moving. Neither were they. The thief noticed him looking at the glider. 

“I opened it by reflex when we started falling,” he explained, “except right now it seems a bit useless, so...” Kid eyed the wings skeptically, considering..

“Ah - don't, don't fold it,” Conan said quickly, before the thief could do anything stupid. “There might be a draft that's keeping us suspended, and we're just so out of it that we can't feel it. For all we know, we might actually be flying normally.” 

“Scared of a little fall, tantei-kun?” Kid teased. 

“Being careful,” Conan corrected. “Especially since I can't see an end to this 'little fall' you speak of.” He eyed the colored space below them warily, obscured with clouds. There was no clue to how deep it might be.

“Hm,” was all the thief said. He shifted Conan's weight onto only one arm, and waved his free one in the air, slowly. “It's kinda hard to start and stop moving, but it's easier once it gets going,” Kid mused. “Certainly doesn’t feel like an illusion, and mind you, I know my illusions. Hey, is it just me, or do you feel cold?”

Conan narrowed his eyes. Actually, this place was a little _too_ much like zero-g. Either a very realistic hallucination, or… 

White flashed at the corner of his vision, and Conan realized that Kid was suddenly grinning. A lot. And shifting Conan's weight again, changing his hold on him. And starting to orient himself up, out of the gliding position they’d been in. Not to mention that the grin on his face was _exceedingly_ suspicious; it didn’t seem like he was even trying to hide it. 

“Don't you dare,” Conan warned, correctly guessing what Kid was about to do. “Don't. You. Dare. Kid, I swear, if you-”

Flashing his signature smirk at the detective, Kid flipped Conan upside-down, holding onto the boy's ankle, as he clicked a hidden button. 

The glider collapsed. 

“Kid!” Conan protested, but then froze in place. 

Startlingly, nothing happened. They continued to float - as Kid stood up straight, his cape didn’t settle against his back as it normally would, but hung suspended like cloth wings in slow motion. After a couple moments, the detective and thief even started to tilt slightly sideways, though it was hard to tell in the lack of relative location and gravity. 

Conan scowled up at Kid, ignoring the indignity of being upside-down. Which was rather easy to do, since from his perspective, Kid was the one upside-down. “You idiot, that was dangerous!”

_“You're_ dangerous,” Kid muttered, and gently tugged the ankle he was holding in a slight arc to set the detective back in the correct orientation. Conan flailed briefly, but ended standing - floating - right side up. By himself. 

Letting go, Kid grinned haughtily at the smaller boy in an _I-told-you-so_ sort of manner. Conan bristled in return, opening his mouth to retort - suddenly it occurred to him that the thief didn’t have his monocle on, and without the asymmetricality, it was all too obvious that he was far too young to have been stealing gems for over twenty years, and looked _far too much like himself_ \- Conan never got the chance to speak, however, as he caught the sight of something metallic hurtling towards them at an alarming rate. From Kid’s sudden tension, he’d probably noticed it as well. Deducing in a split second that they must’ve floated into the path of whatever intangible wind that was keeping the debris moving around, Conan cursed and tried futilely to move out of the path of travel, waving his limbs about.

As expected, his position changed only a fraction of a centimeter. Kid grabbed Conan’s shoulder, one hand in his jacket’s inner pockets, likely looking for an item to get them out of the way. A grappling hook, maybe.

Unfortunately, he’d only just pulled the item out when the chunk of metal - dirtied with age, shaped like a capsule, and something purple on it - slammed into them.

There was a momentary blur of colors - red flashing, flaring, like a screen - bending and cracking and sparking - metal screeching and grinding against energy, power, _magicnotmagic_ \- shattering and suddenly he couldn’t breathe, something tugging and pulling his body inside out, draining away the air - lingering red finally crumbling away - _could not breathe -_

A subtle shock flashed through his body as something, everything around him changed.

Oxygen rushed back into his lungs as the unfamiliar pressure vanished, leaving behind only ice in his veins and dizziness in his head. In the same instant, gravity returned with a vengeance.

His head jerked and smacked into something, and he blacked out.

* * *

 

Less than half a minute later, something zapped Conan in the arm.

The shock wasn’t that large - more than static electricity but less than, say, a taser - but it was enough to snap him back to sudden wakefulness.

“Ow,” someone complained. “Tantei-kun, stop shocking me!”

Kaitou Kid. “Who’s shocking who?” Conan muttered, realizing that he was lying on the ground. With a small wince, he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, ignoring the slight twinges of stiffness in his limbs. 

“I’m shocking you,” Kid agreed full-heartedly, “but you’re not supposed to shock me back. That’s just mean.”

“And you’re the incarnation of niceness, I’m sure,” Conan replied dryly as he looked around. The thief crouching right in front of him, an echo of a smile on the his face. Not the usual impenetrable mask that he usually wore - not by far. The false smile was flimsy enough that even the most thick-headed of all the Task Force would be able to see through it without much work. However… “Do you have spare monocles just hanging around?”

A seemingly careless shrug was his answer, the replacement monocle glinting. And then, “Well, the whole Memories Egg thing was annoying.”

Oh. Conan blinked, briefly recalling the heist. Yeah, that made sense. Still, it didn’t explain why he looked so - spooked, for the lack of a better word. If anything, wouldn’t the thief be relieved at having a part of his costume back?

“… Also, who in the world are those two?” an unfamiliar voice asked from somewhere a little off to their right. “What even is that guy wearing, some sort of stage performance outfit?”

Getting to his feet and resigning himself to another play of _I’m just an innocent kid, ahaha_ , and half-wondering how Kid would wiggle his way out of this one, Conan turned to face the speaker - and couldn’t help but freeze, eyebrow raised. 

A group of five people, all wearing suits. At least, he assumed that the blue, three-eyed monster was a costume and not what the person actually looked like. There was also a tall person in green who was even darker skinned than Hattori, a girl in light purple with a purse, another girl in yellow with disks, and a smaller boy (but still older and taller than ‘Conan’ was) wearing a deeper indigo and a saddened look. With a big red - glove? - in his arms. Aside for the boy and the monster costume, the rest looked like college students.

Except they were all wearing weird suits. And none of them were wearing anything like Kid’s suit, but actual _,_ _mechanical_ , high-tech suits. 

Seriously. And they had the gall to chew out Kid, of all people, for his getup?

Then, it clicked that none of them seemed to recognize neither Kid nor himself. Conan wasn’t exceedingly widely known, of course, with his age, but Kid on the other hand - _everyone_ knew the Phantom Thief 1412, Magician Under the Moonlight, Kaitou Kid. Even outside of Japan; hello, international criminal? In fact, the thief practically made it a point that everyone knew him. It was just the sort of thing that he’d flaunt smugly about while waving at the police with jewel in hand. 

So why did this group of people _not_ know him?

Awkward silence ensued as Kid stood beside Conan, the two of them staring at the five strangers, who looked about as comfortable as they did.

In other words, not at all.

“You do realize that once this blows over, Ran-neechan will never let Conan-kun attend one of your heists ever again, right, Kid?” Conan asked drily, the thought having suddenly occurred to him.

“Not if the notice is sent to your room!”

“Debateable.”

“Hm. I suppose that’s true. Not if the notice requires your presence!”

“I’m sure you’re well-acquainted with the idea of disguise, Kid.”

“Well, not if-”

“Er,” the one in the monster costume interrupted, “did you just call the older guy a kid?”

Conan brightened, sliding fully into his childish facade, and pronounced chirpily, “Yeah, because he’s the Kaitou Kid! Call the police and arrest him now!”

“What the twerp means,” Kid corrected, not-so-subtly stepping on Conan’s shoe, “is that I’m dressing up as Kaitou Kid. I’m a huge fan of his, so I was just playing in character. Guess he got too far into it, huh?” he added, bending over to ruffle Conan’s hair, to his annoyance.

“I will tranq you and kick you off of a building at full power,” the detective hissed, delighted when the thief stiffened and stopped stepping on his shoe in response. 

“Does anyone know who this ‘Kaitou Kid’ is?” the monster costume asked, turning from side to side to look at his friends. “Because I don’t.”

“I don’t think so,” the lady in light purple and red said.

“Nope,” announced the woman in yellow.

“Don’t look at me,” returned the man in green. “I haven’t a clue.”

The boy in purple only shrugged. 

Hilariously (and yet not very surprisingly) enough, when Kid gaped, he looked like he was _truly_ offended that they didn’t know who he was. “Seriously? Guy in white, wears a monocle, sends out invitations to the police for his heists? Search him up! He’s the most popular thief ever!”

“And you’re dressed exactly like him, how suspicious,” Conan added in a low mutter, ducking safely away from another swipe aimed at his hair.

“We can search that up later,” the man in the green suit said before anyone else could respond. “First things first, I think we need to get you both checked into the hospital. It’s a miracle that you’re both healthy enough to be standing right now - there’s another ambulance on its way, since the other one already left with Abigail, Krei, and Callaghan.”

Conan blinked, trying to think back. The only reason that guy would say such a thing would be if he knew the two of them had been in a dangerous situation. But if they didn’t know Kid, then how would they have known about the fall at the heist? And why would there be other ambulances, with other people hurt? “What are you talking about?” he asked, wary.

“The portal, of course,” said the lady in light purple answered, sounding puzzled. “Actually, how’d you two get in there, anyway? And how long have you been there?”

Conan opened and closed his mouth, momentarily wordless. Kid cut in for him, asking tightly, “What portal?”

“The one you just escaped from,” the woman in yellow deadpanned. “You know, big, circular piece of revolutionary scientific technology, previously ruined by a demonstration gone wrong, recently reconstructed with a horde of nanobots? Likes to suck things up and lose them forever in some sort of intermediate space unless we get lucky?”

“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about,” Conan replied flatly. But something still felt wrong. What was it…? Hesitantly, he asked, “Can you - um, where exactly are we?”

“San Fransokyo, of course,” the lady in light purple responded, now a bit worried. “At a new Krei Tech facility.”

That… made no sense. First of all, what was a Krei Tech facility, and who in the world would mash San Francisco and Tokyo together into that sort of name? And it was _way_ too bright - wait. 

He looked up.

The sun nearly blinded him when it was supposed to be the moon.

“Kid, if this is one of your illusions, I will kick a _brick_ at you,” Conan warned, turning his eyes to Kid.

“I’m afraid while it would be fun to watch you go crazy from this sort of thing, I did not do this,” the thief responded, reassembling his mask of false emotions as he continued, “And call me by my name, Conan-kun. Say it with me - _Kaito-niichan._ ”

“Fine, _Kaito-niichan,”_ Conan rolled his eyes as he spoke, deciding it to be in his best interests to play along for now, “since you’re older, you should know why it’s suddenly daytime outside when we were taking a walk at around midnight night less than a half-hour ago, and where on earth this ‘San Fansokyo’ city is, right? And what a Krei Tech facility is!”

“You’re a snappy kid,” ‘Kaito’ sighed, but he seemed not to have an answer either. “Excuse me, but where is - er - ‘San Fansokyo’ in relation to Beika?”

Collective blinks. “What’s Beika?” the man in green asked.

“Beika City?” Kaito tried again, but still received only head-shaking and confusion. The thief sighed, and then resigned himself to, “Hospital’s fine, then. As long as we can get a map there.”

“Of course,” said the lady in light purple. “Oh, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet! Sorry about that. I’m Honey Lemon.”

The person in the monster costume visibly perked up. “I’m Fred!” he announced. “And this is Wasabi” - pointing at the man in green - “and this is Gogo” - the woman in yellow - “and that’s Hiro!” - the youngest boy with the huge red glove.

“… Nice to meet you?” Conan offered weakly, brow raised. Most of those sounded more like nicknames than actual names.

“The other ambulance is about here already,” Wasabi noted, glancing across the street to where the wailing sirens seemed to be coming from. “We’ll see you at the hospital then, I guess.”

Conan nodded slowly. “Thanks,” he said. Kaito echoed him, after a second.

When the emergency vehicle arrived, the five of them accompanied the detective and thief to the ambulance, but were too large as a group to go with them, so they simply waved them off.

At some point, Hiro was pushed to the side by paramedics, and he stumbled against the side of the ambulance. The glove in his arms banged against the metal as well, and although everyone recognized that it happened, it soon slipped their minds. Not a single one of the five newfound heroes noticed that the glove’s fist had loosened ever so slightly on impact - just enough that a little green chip could slip free.

None of those five noticed when it clattered to the ground, nor when, by the time the ambulance drove off, it vanished.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Maybe there was something just a _little_ a bit egotistical about throwing out the name of 'Sleeping Kogorou' and expecting at least _one_ person to perk up in recognition, especially since he himself was the brains behind the character, but Conan was starting to get desperate. 

Desperate and panicky. Never a good combination - the detective fought down both of those feelings as he smiled and chattered with the nurse. 

He'd been asked many questions, of course, and was forced to evade pretty much all of them. The only ones he dared to answer truthfully were the first and most simple: What's your name? Where do you live? But when a medic asked who the young men and women who saved him and his 'brother' were, Conan only shrugged in innocent ignorance, thinking that if those five wanted their names to be known, they'd say so to some news reporters. When a nurse asked the phone numbers of his parents, Conan instead offered the Mouri Detective Agency's contact information, as he couldn't tell anyone his true parentage and past. When a kindly doctor looked him over and asked of any medical complications he might've had, he tried not to laugh and simply said that he was rather susceptible to colds - to which 'Kaito' added, grinning like a fool, that Conan had a bit of a stunted growth. 

"A nice bit shorter than others his age," Kaito had explained, not bothering to hide his glee. The glare that the thief received in return promised a later soccer ball to the face. 

What really sent Conan reeling off balance, however, was the discovery that both the names 'Kaitou Kid' and 'Sleeping Kogorou' were not only unknown, but _did not even exist._

After much pleading and excessive use of puppy-dog eyes, he'd been permitted a brief few minutes on the internet to search what he wished. In his mind, that was more than enough at first. However, the seconds blazed by as the things he discovered through that particular resource entirely shattered his world. 

Search engines had nothing to suggest when 'Sleeping Kogorou' or 'Kaitou Kid' was entered. Yesterday's newspaper didn't include news about Kid's latest heist notice, and the day before didn't mention Kogorou's interview - both of which Conan knew existed, as he'd read them himself.

However, it didn't just end there. Oh, no. Dread continued to build up in Conan's stomach as he scoured the internet. 

By the time he was told to get off the computer, which he obeyed numbly, his head was spinning. There were no Night Baron books here (although Sherlock Holmes still turned up, thank goodness), no mystery novelist Kudou Yuusaku or his wife Kudou Yukiko, no Beika City, no Teitan High, no actress Chris Vineyard (and so no Black Organization?)... 

But the strangest thing, by far, were the maps.

Conan gritted his teeth, glaring at the wall. 

He'd brought up several maps, having thought the first few to be pranks, but the same thing appeared over and over again, no matter how credible he believed the site to be. 

This ‘San Fransokyo’ stood right where San Francisco should be - it even had a bridge that vaguely resembled the Golden Gate bridge, except with massive amounts of Japanese influence. Meanwhile, San Francisco had apparently popped off of the face of the earth. He had a sneaking suspicion that the Tokyo had met with the same fate, but hadn’t time to check it before the nurse pulled him off the computer. 

Then again, this alone was giving him migraines.

Conan sighed, but quickly re-assembled his mask of childishness when he heard the door to his room creaking open once more, wondering what the doctor or nurse wanted this time. They’d given him a clean bill of health already, aside for the cut on his face. That had been treated, too, with some disinfectants and antibiotics he’d never seen before and a band-aid.

His facade dropped almost faster than he’d pulled it up when ‘Kaito’s face poked into the room. “Oh, it’s just you.”

_“Just_ me?” the thief echoed disbelievingly, putting a hand over his heart in offense as he let himself in, closing the door behind him softly. “I’m offended, tantei-kun.”

Conan shrugged uncaringly, glancing over the other teen appraisingly. Kaito had changed out of his flashy Kid outfit in the ambulance via an even flashier magic trick involving a bit of stage smoke and seven doves, and was now dressed in a more normal set of clothes. It had only proved Conan’s sneaking suspicion that this Kaitou Kid must’ve been a successor, since it became even more obvious that the magician was exactly like Kudou Shinichi in appearance and, more importantly, age.

Heck, Conan could’ve been looking at his real body, except with messier hair and the _slightest_ difference in eye color.

Kaito stared right back at Conan, and for a couple moments, neither spoke. Then, Conan asked drily, “Is ‘Kaito’ supposed to be a pun off of ‘kaitou’?”

“Considering you ripped your name off of the covers of two books, you shouldn’t be speaking,” Kaito pointed out. He paused for a beat, pondering something over and allowing the detective a half second to bristle defensively, before continuing in a light tone, “And no. It’s my real name.”

Opening his mouth, Conan had a retort at the tip of his tongue before what the teen said registered in his head. Shock whited out what he’d been about to say, washing the words away and leaving him speechless. His mouth closed wordlessly.

Kaito. The Kaitou Kid’s _real name._ And it had been given to him, like an unwrapped gift. Just… presented on a silver platter.

“It’s - your real name,” Conan repeated incredulously, and Kaito nodded. His eyes followed the magician as he sat down across from him, in the doctor’s chair. Shock ebbed slowly, clouded confusion taking its place. “You - why?”

“Why what?” Innocent. Like he didn’t know what he’d just done.

“Why did you give me your real name? I’m a detective. I could-”

“Turn me in right now?” Kaito shook his head. “Tantei-kun, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but we’re not home. I may be an international criminal, but I’m not an interdimensional one. Well, yet,” he amended.

Conan’s expression melted into a deadpan. “Interdimensional.”

“Yeah. I may have, um,” - waving his hand, a small mobile device materialized in Kaito’s grip - “borrowed one of the nurse’s phones. I’ll give it back in a few, of course, and tell her that she just left it in my room or something, but I searched a couple things on the internet, and-”

“San Francisco doesn’t exist, but this San Fransokyo place does,” Conan filled in, monotone, _tired_. “Beika doesn’t exist. Kaitou Kid doesn’t exist.”

“Exactly.” The phone vanished up Kaito’s sleeve, and a deck of cards appeared in its place. Kaito shuffled them idly as he spoke. “So, technically, I’m scot-free here. Squeaky clean. No heists, no crimes, just a young, skilled, and well-dressed magician.”

“Here, yes.” Wherever ‘here’ was, anyway. “But once we get out of this delusional place, I could expose you easily.”

“I could deny that I ever said such a thing.”

“But _I_ would know,” Conan pushed. “And once I know, I’ll be able to find some evidence, one way or another. So that’s not it. Why did you give me your name, Kid? Why did you take this risk - _Kaito?”_

The cards stilled. “We’re not home,” Kaito repeated, slowly. “It’s because we’re in a strange city with no way home.”

“I got that the first time you said that.”

“But you’re not _listening,_ meitantei.” Kaito tapped a finger on his leg impatiently. “Think about it.”

“I _am,_ and nothing makes any sense,” Conan spat, the blue in his eyes smoldering like embers. In his mind’s eye, he replayed that strange happening once more - the moment where the capsule had slammed into them, the strange red energy crackling and bending under the strain of the metal against it, _the fact that they came away from the impact unscathed_. “None of it makes any sense at all!”

_Magicnotmagic,_ memory whispered.

Kaito pressed a hand to his face. “Meitantei, look, you can’t do this the way you usually do. This isn’t the kind of reasonable, logical, scientifically-explained thing that you can figure out if you think hard enough.”

_Magicnotmagic._

“Don’t say it,” Conan bit out fiercely. “Don’t.”

“There’s a witch in my class, you know,” Kaito said, throwing it out there casually. “A real one. Once, she took a voodoo doll of me and stabbed it during a heist. I started coughing up blood.”

_Magicnotmagic._

“Don’t,” Conan repeated. But more unsure.

“Did you hear about the odd heist where a half-Brit detective handcuffed his classmate to him, and then when Kaitou Kid appeared to steal that night’s target, he started flying on a broom? Without his - her, I suppose, since she was pretending to be me - hang glider.”

“Stop it.” Weaker.

“Everysingle boy in my class loves that witch, actually, even that specific annoying half-Brit detective. It’s so aggravating to be the only sane male in the room whenever she walks in. Yeah, I’m the only one who didn’t fall in love at first sight, for whatever reason. Maybe another odd quirk of mine, or some love from my Lady. But because of that, she wants me either hers or gone. On one of her tries at the first option, I almost gave in to her, on a roof, where she set up a magic circle and every nerve in my body burned.”

“Stop.” He was giving him, _trusting him_ with personal information, big pieces of the puzzle, things he couldn’t deny.

Kaito paused only to draw in another breath. “The thing I was looking for in all of my heists - it’s a gem called Pandora. The crows call it a doublet, though it’s really a crystal inclusion, which shows how little they really know about this sort of stuff, but they’re not joking around with trying to get their hands on it. My - people have been killed while they looked for this stupid rock. I’m here to take it from them.”

_“Don’t.”_  

Because it couldn’t be. Right? It couldn’t possible be… 

“Well, I guess I already took it from them. Pandora’s supposed to glow red under the moonlight - and that Teardrop Diamond did, and now it’s gone. Victory at last, huh? But the reason why they wanted it, it was because Pandora was rumored to cry tears under a certain comet that comes every ten thousand years or something. And these tears were special, they were said to give the drinker immortality.”

_Magic._

That ‘intermediate space’ or whatever - it had been space all the same, a place without oxygen, without anything, and both he and Kaito had survived there. At least, as the capsule pushed them through a portal, until the red energy faltered and shattered and left them to the merciless expanse of space for a split second.

Had it been for any longer, neither of them would have survived.

Conan closed his eyes and leaned back, reassured by the solid feeling of a wall right behind him.

“Magic,” he said, out loud.

“Magic,” Kaito confirmed. “I don’t tangle with that stuff, by the way. Stage tricks for me.”

Not bothering to stifle his snort, Conan raised his gaze to the ceiling. “Imagine the uproar - Kaitou Kid using fake magic.” The last word sat uncomfortably on his tongue, like a liquid weight that rolled exactly where it shouldn’t.

Kaito grinned at him, but it was touched with something more somber. “So, interdimensional.”

“You said immortality.”

“I know. That’s what I thought it did. That’s why all those sneaky killers in black were after it, at least.”

“You make them sound like the type of ninjas that appear in movies.” But something else edged on Conan’s thoughts. Immortality… What did people usually think of when immortality was brought up? The fountain of youth, he supposed. Tears were liquid, sure, although a single diamond wasn’t much of a ‘fountain’.

What _type_ of immortality, though? There were several interpretations - did one just not die, and continue to age and wither? Was the person frozen in time, forevermore the same age? Did they get younger, maybe?

Conan suddenly straightened, eyes wide. Younger. Time sheared off of someone’s life. He’d lost a solid ten years in the past year. _We can be both of God and the Devil, since we’re trying to raise the dead against the stream of time._ All this time, he’d been a part of some big _magic_ experiment, some attempt to recreate magic with science, chemicals - which resulted in a _poison,_ of all things. Did Haibara know that?

“You’ve got the ‘I just deducted something interesting’ face on,” Kaito noted, cutting into his thoughts. “Care to share?”

“Conan’s the result of an experimental poison,” he said, gesturing at his shrunken body. “Something meant to kill. And yet it made me younger. Rewound time for me, ten years of it. The Organization may have been after that gem for its granting of immortality, but that wasn't the only way they tried for it - and when they tried to get immortality without magic, they made a poison instead. I’m here, like this, because they ended up with a killer when they tried to make something that made lives last longer, while trying to circumvent magic.” The last word still lingered awkwardly, unwanted, in his mouth.

However... The existence of magic changed just about everything. Aside from the obviously inexplicable aspects of it, what if someone abused it, wielded it like a weapon to kill? 

With a sudden chill, Conan realized that any one of the cases he solved might have had a magic user manipulating events and evidence in ways he hadn't even considered. Innocent victims might've been landed in jail for his ignorance. 

He cursed under his breath, mind whirling. He'd have to go back to his old cases, look them over, try to spot - what? Some hint at magic? What hint? If he hadn’t caught on something before, he wouldn’t catch it later, especially since he didn’t even know what he was looking for. And nothing stood out in all the cases that he could remember. He’d have to look harder, _much_ harder, for something that shouldn’t even be possible.

“Meitantei.”

_“What?”_ he demanded, irritated.

Kaito folded his arms behind his head. His eyes shifted to Conan lazily. “Relax. You look like your world just imploded.”

“I think it just did,” he grumbled. “And for all we know, our world might have actually imploded.”

Kaito stiffened, then sighed. “What’s got you all tied up in knots?”

Gritting his teeth, Conan snapped, “I’m a _detective!_ I can’t - all those cases I’ve solved, all of the ones I’ve deemed closed, what if there was something I hadn’t considered in magic, and I arrested the wrong person?”

_“That’s_ what you’re worried about?” Kaito blinked at him. “Meitantei, magic isn’t a common practice. I don’t think you’ve run into anything even vaguely magical in all your life, besides for our current situation.”

“Doesn’t matter. Now that I know it exists, I have to go back and check everything.” Conan dragged a hand down his face.

Reaching over to him, Kaito pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Just try not to think about it. Besides, Ak - the witch I know isn’t all that subtle with her stuff, so I don’t think possible others really are, either. You’ll be able to pick up on any strange things just fine.” He seemed to notice that nothing he said alleviated the detective’s stress, so he moved on. “Anyway, I’m just wondering how we’re supposed to get back.”

“What did you do to that little red gem, anyway?” the smaller boy asked, peering up at the magician. “The one that you took and attempted to shoot a card at. I'm reasonably sure that that’s what caused this whole issue, maybe the core of the Teardrop Diamond and it's power, so if you tried doing the same thing to it again…” 

“A wonderful idea, tantei-kun,” - a red rose popped into Conan's hand as a reward - “but, unfortunately, one that I already thought of and has already been foiled.” 

“Already?” Conan raised a brow.

Kaito sighed, hands burrowing into his pockets and pulling them inside out, showing that they were empty - which didn't mean much, since Conan knew he still had all of his Kid gear hidden away somewhere on his body. “That little gem you’re talking about? It decided it didn't like us and teleported away from us in the portal space,” Kaito said, somber. “So while that idea of yours might work, we have no way to try it.”

Gaping, Conan protested, “You're kidding. That's our only lead back!”

“Sorry, but that's about all I can offer you.” Kaito spread his hands. “Can you figure a way back home out of just those measly little clues, meitantei?”

Conan stilled as he narrowed his eyes. He knew a challenge when he heard one, and that was what Kaito was pressing into him now. For good reason, but pressing him all the same. Not like he had much choice, though. 

Exhaling slowly, with a low chuckle of resignation, he shook his head. “Idiot. Of course I can.” 

How, though? There was no way to synthetically recreate the effects - they hadn’t a clue how the gem worked, and as the APTX proved, mixing chemistry and magic didn’t really work… 

Except it did, Conan corrected himself. He’d gotten younger, and that was technically a step in the right direction for immortality. So it wasn’t so much as magic and science not being able to work with each other at all, just very likely to go awry. But possible.

Possible wasn’t enough if they had no idea what was going on.

“If it’s compatible with science - even just the smallest bit - it can be reasoned through,” Conan said out loud. “And I’m technically proof that they do work together, somewhat. The shrinking is technically scientifically legitimate, since Haibara’s not freaking out over it or anything. Well, not in a _‘magic exists!’_ way of freaking out, at least. And it was actually a branching part of an entirely ‘magic’ search for immortality.”

Kaito made a _go on_ gesture. 

“And I’m guessing that the Teardrop Diamond isn’t exactly a common object. This ‘Pandora’ is unique, right?”

“As far as I know,” Kaito confirmed.

“And it has something to do with a comet that comes around every ten thousand years. Maybe that’s where it came from, and there’s some sort of reaction in a spectrum of radiation we can’t detect. But that’s not something we can worry about here, since it’s unlikely that the comet… passes through… dimensions…” He looked down pensively, mind whirling.

Tilting his head at Conan’s sudden halt in mid-ramble, Kaito grinned. “Did you just eat your words?”

“Energy,” the detective murmured, ignoring Kaito's quip. “How much…? Those five people we saw - we need to talk to them. The portal they were talking about, if they knew a some things about it, that could help us out a lot.”

“I'm no expert in that,” Kaito said, “but I can guess that the energy needed to go between dimensions is unimaginably high.”

“Yeah.” Conan rested his chin on his hands, frowning slightly. “And considering that the Teardrop Diamond has the ability to do that, it's very possible that the comet it reacts to can do the same. With so much energy… That could explain why it’s so hard to break. Your card gun is powerful enough to at least crack it, especially after a real gun’s bullet shattered the diamond around it.”

“Actually, that’s the strange thing.” Kaito leaned forward. “On the roof, when I tried to destroy it, the card hit the gem alright - the edge cut nearly a quarter of the way through it. But when I was looking at it in the portal space, there wasn’t a single blemish, and it was as smooth as ever.”

“It can regenerate?”

“Apparently. I didn’t really get a chance to examine it more, since the next thing I knew, it started glowing red and almost blinded me again, and then it just vanished.” He waved his hand in a wide arc. “Poof.”

Conan nodded, slowly. That must’ve been the second burst of light. “And now we have no idea where it is.”

“A brilliant deduction, meitantei, seeing as I just told you that,” Kaito drawled, tapping his foot.

Something itched in the back of Conan’s mind. “Kaito.”

“Yeah?”

“The Teardrop Diamond’s core, Pandora, is a gem that gives immortality,” Conan said. When Kaito opened his mouth, he held up a hand. “No, I’m just laying it out. Pandora grants everlasting life - or maybe life everlasting.”

“… What are you thinking?” Kaito inquired softly.

“I’m thinking that if the gem itself grants life, wouldn’t it be reasonable to say that it itself might, in fact… be alive?”

* * *

 

A short while later, a distressed-looking doctor poked his head into the room, causing both Conan and Kaito to freeze their conversation in a sudden halt and simultaneously turn their heads towards the door. 

“Excuse me,” the doctor said, “but you’re supposed to be in your own room, young man.”

Kaito blinked. “Oops. Guess we must’ve lost track of time. Sorry.” He didn’t move, though, clearly unwilling to leave.

With an internal sigh, Conan latched onto Kaito’s arm and pushed his face into the other boy’s sleeve. “I want to stay with niichan!” he cried pitifully. “Can he stay with me, please? I’m scared and I don’t know anyone else!”

“Er - alright,” the doctor allowed. “Actually, regarding that, are you sure you have your addresses and phone numbers right? It seems-”

“Ah!” Kaito cut in quickly. “About that, we moved here very recently, and probably mixed a couple things together. My bad, I probably told Conan-kun the wrong things. It’s alright though, we can find our way back by ourselves, so no need to worry!”

“You’re going to need a guardian to sign you out, though,” the doctor pointed out.

“Our parents are busy right now.” Kaito kicked his feet idly. “They wouldn’t appreciate a call - probably wouldn’t even hear the ringtone.” For more than one reason. “And we’ll be fine, I promise. Just a couple of scratches here and there, like anyone else roughhousing in a park!”

The doctor wavered slightly. “Well, um, the issue will have to be addressed later. For now, please stay for observation at least until sunset, or, more preferably, through the night. Also, you have five people who wish to visit you… both of you.”

In a moment, Conan realized who their visitors were. Kaito seemed to have figured it out as well, having visibly perked up. “Ooh - company!” he said happily. “Let’s see them!”

Nodding and letting himself back out, the doctor left to fetch their visitors. “I’ll be back in a few,” the doctor called as the door swung shut. Meanwhile, Kaito turned his gaze to Conan.

“One step closer, ne?”

“Don’t count your chicks before they hatch,” Conan returned wryly. “We’ll see when they come.”

“Until then, we should work together,” Kaito said, keeping eye contact. Conan hesitated, instinctively unwilling to enter an agreement with a thief.

But this was the Kaitou Kid. Nonviolent, dressed in white, the most atypical of all thieving stereotypes. Someone who’d not only saved his life, but the lives of his friends and family. Someone he, maybe just a bit, respected and trusted, to an extent.

“Working together seems like our only option right now, anyway.” Conan hopped off the examination table lightly. 

He looked up to see an ungloved hand extended to him. “So, for now, truce?” the magician asked innocently.

Conan stared at him briefly with tightened lips, piercing blue eyes sharply examining his expression, but he eventually relented. Reaching out, he clasped Kaito's hand.

“Truce,” he agreed.

Kaito grinned, and then let go of his hand. “Kuroba Kaito - high school student, amateaur magician. Although ‘amateaur’ is mostly because I’m technically not old enough to be professional.”

Deciding to play along, albeit with a raised brow, Conan responded, “Kudou Shinichi, detective - but you already knew that.”

“That I did.”

Someone knocked at the door, and the two of them fell silent once more as the doctor re-entered the room, an entourage of five vaguely acquaintanced people in tow. They’d gotten rid of the suits and were dressed in more casual clothing now, but were rather recognizable from facial and body features.

“Nothing stressful,” the doctor reminded them. “I’ll let you have your privacy, though.”

Once the door clicked closed, leaving the seven alone in the room, awkward silence ensued.

“So…” Fred trailed off.

“Can we talk about the portal?” Conan asked, breaking the strained atmosphere.

“Yeah, let’s talk about that,” Gogo agreed. “Like, how you two managed to get in there in the first place.”

Kaito glanced at Conan, and then shrugged. “We haven’t a clue. One minute we’re standing on a roof, and then suddenly we’re falling, and next thing we know we’re floating in that portal of yours.”

“It’s not our portal,” Wasabi corrected. “It belongs to Callaghan.”

“Whoever.” Kaito waved his hand uncaringly. “Point is, we don’t know. At least, not all of it, yet,” he added. “It would be nice if you could fill in some blanks for us about the portal itself, so maybe we can piece some things together.”

“Basically, it was supposed to be a teleportation system,” Hiro spoke up. “Instantaneous travel and all that - super revolutionary, experimental technology. Except when they ran a trial with a human subject for a demonstration, something went wrong and the portal destabilized midway. Callaghan just reconstructed one of the two portals and turned it on, which is the thing you came out of today.”

“Which is partially why we’re confused as to how you got in there,” Honey Lemon added. “Considering it appears that Abigail was the first human to go in there, and it was shut down right afterwards until Callaghan opened it again today.”

Conan exchanged glances with Kaito.

Narrowing her eyes, Gogo went on to say, “Not to mention that the only reason Hiro survived there was because of his suit, and Abigail because of her pod. There’s no oxygen in there, no pressure, just _space_ , and yet you two are unscathed after being there for an undetermined amount of time.”

“I wouldn’t say entirely unscathed,” Kaito cut in lightly, looking pointedly at the bandage across Conan’s cheek, “but I do see what you mean, and I’m just as befuddled as you are.”

Conan, however, looked appraisingly at Hiro, who matched his gaze. After a moment, he widened his gaze to include all five of the people. “We’re not sure,” he said seriously. “We ended up here on accident, and we didn’t even know that this city - we don’t know this city,” he finished lamely, correcting himself halfway through. Considering that this place seemed to be exactly like San Francisco but with Japanese influences, saying that they didn’t know that this probably popular city existed would be strange. Besides, claiming to be from another dimension was never a good idea.

“We’ll figure it out somehow,” Wasabi assured. “I’m just glad you both escaped okay.”

“Mhm,” Kaito agreed. “Anyway, since we didn’t get a chance to introduce ourselves to you guys, my name’s Kuroba Kaito.” He stood up with a grand sweeping motion with an arm, bowing to the other group. Lifting a hand, he materialized another rose and offered it to Honey, who took with a hesitant thanks. “I’m going to be a world-famous magician one day,” he elaborated proudly, like he was one already - which was technically true.

Something about those words rung a bell in the back of Conan’s head, and he puzzled over it even as he smiled and said, “And I’m Edogawa Conan, a detective!”

“A detective,” Hiro echoed with a wry smile. “Already? How old are you, six?”

“Seven,” Conan corrected sulkily. He hated being so small.

“Oh, and by the way, where are your parents?” Honey asked, examining the flower. “Won’t they be worried about you two?”

For a moment, Conan was bewildered, and then realized what they were talking about. “Ah, no, we’re not-”

“They’re away on a business trip,” Kaito said nonchalantly, overriding Conan’s protest. “Not sure when they’re coming back, since they’ve got serious business or something keeping them away. Meanwhile, I’ve got to take care of this little brat.” He grinned at Conan, who glared back.

A strange look crossed Hiro’s face. “Oh.”

There was a little pop and a plume of smoke, and a dove appeared on the boy’s shoulder, cooing softly.

“What’s with the long face?” Kaito asked, snapping his fingers to pop another bird into the air - this one fluttered around the room a couple times before roosting on Conan’s head, to his chagrin.

“It’s nothing.” Hiro shrugged, extending a finger to the dove. It cooed at him again, and hopped onto the offered finger. “Just thinking. You’re rather close siblings, aren’t you?”

Conan snorted, while Kaito’s grin only widened. “Of course not!” the magician said dramatically, placing a hand over his heart in mock horror. “Why would I ever be close to this ankle-biter?”

“Because I can kick a soccer ball at you with enough force to shatter a wall, that’s why,” Conan muttered.

“Is he a too-smart-for-his-own-good kid, too?” Gogo asked Kaito amusedly.

“You bet. He’s practically at a high school level, although they won’t let him, so he’s stuck in first grade for now,” Kaito replied with a completely straight face. Conan resisted the urge to kick him. Again. “What about Hiro-kun?”

“He’s way too smart,” Fred said good-naturedly, grinning at the said boy. He added proudly, “Hiro Hamada is our resident child genius.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Hiro chuckled awkwardly.

Kaito tilted his head. “Hamada, you say?”

“You know his family?” Honey asked. 

“No, but…” Kaito snapped his fingers again, whistling. Hiro’s dove perked up at the sound and returned to Kaito, vanishing in smoke halfway there. “Would you recognize the name Tadashi Hamada?”

Conan looked at the magician weirdly, wondering where he’d gotten the name from, but the others seemed to recognize it. More than recognize it.

“Tadashi?” they all chorused.

Hiro in particular was slightly higher pitched, and continued, “You know my brother?”

“Nope,” Kaito said happily, “but I’ve got something of his that needs to be returned.” He cupped his hands, and then spread them, revealing the dove sitting in his palm. “Mayu-chan, if you would be so kind?”

The dove spread - her, Conan assumed, from ‘Mayu-chan’ - wings and gave a trilling whistle before flapping over the Hiro. He instinctively held out a hand, but she did not land. Instead, she dropped what looked like a little green computer chip into the boy’s palm before winging her way back to Kaito and disappearing in another puff of smoke. 

“No way,” Hiro breathed, eyes wide at the item in his hands. “Where - when did you-?”

“A magician never tells his secrets,” Kaito sing-songed. 

“Until a detective blows away the smoke and shatters the mirrors, anyway,” Conan muttered. He reached up to the dove in his hair, and when he felt the little talons gripping his fingers, he carefully brought the bird down to his lap, running his hand over its feathers. 

“This is - thank you,” Hiro said sincerely, cradling the chip protectively.

“It was my pleasure,” Kaito grinned. Then, he looked at Conan. “Conan-kun, do you still remember Shiro-chan?”

Conan raised a brow as the dove - Shiro-chan, he supposed - nipped at his fingertips. “Should I?”

“You took care of her broken wing for me, once,” Kaito mused, and Conan paused in mid-stroke, turning his attention to the bird’s features. This was the one that he’d found wounded?

“Ah,” he murmured quietly. Shiro-chan cooed at him, and he obliged in rubbing the dove’s wings. “But seriously,” he added in a louder voice to the five other people. “Do you know anything about the portal that might explain why Kaito-niichan and I are here? It’s so weird.”

“Sorry, no,” Hiro replied. “I mean, I guess we could analyze the stuff in the old lab, but most of the things there are useless and broken now. Or you could ask Callaghan, but he’s in jail.”

Conan was suddenly very sure that a smirk had flashed across Kaito’s face, even though it was gone in the blink of an eye. “That’s fine, we’ll puzzle it out later,” the magician said neutrally. “Thanks anyway.”

Yeah, Conan did not feel comfortable about that ghost of a smirk.

* * *

 

“Psst. Tantei-kun.”

Conan groaned at the voice, rolling over in his bed and burying his head in the pillow. “I was up all night at your heist, Kid. Things can wait until morning. Let me sleep.”

“Nooo, tantei-kun, get up.”

“Kid.” One sleep-hazed eye peered open at the figure standing over him. “You’re supposed to be in your own room, idiot. And I’m exhausted - literally being in a seven-year-old’s body has more downsides than _disguising_ as a seven-year-old.”

“Come on, tantei-kun. We’re going to check that place we appeared in, and see if there’s any hint of anything. If not, we’ll head on over to wherever criminals are held in this place, and talk to that Callaghan guy, whoever he is.” A hand shook his shoulder. “Don’t you want to start heading home already?”

“Screw you,” Conan sighed, but he allowed himself to be pulled into an upright position. He suppressed a yawn as he glanced at his watch. “It’s too early for this, Kaito. Seven-year-old. Sleep. Someone my height doesn’t get up at two thirty in the morning.”

Kaito slid his glasses onto his face. “You can make it up once we get back,” the magician promised. “I’ll even send a notice to that Ran-neechan of yours and ask them to let you sleep as long as you want. Besides, shouldn’t you have jet lag - er, dimensional lag - and be wide awake by now? It was night in our world but daytime here.”

“Don’t be stupid, it just means I went even longer without sleeping. Little kid bodies don’t appreciate that at all, by the way. Where are we even going?” Conan asked, finally beginning to fully snap into consciousness. “We don’t know our way around this city at all, in case you’ve forgotten. How are we supposed to find that Krei Tech facility place, besides possibly wandering around the streets, lost?”

“Give me some credit, meitantei,” Kaito replied, tapping Conan’s glasses. “I took a couple of your tracking sticker things and stuck them onto rocks and the ground while we were there.”

“Of course you did.” Conan resignedly fingered his glasses. “I’ll turn them on once we get out of the hospital - no point in wasting battery, and who knows what equipment might get disrupted here because of interference.”

“Thoughtful as always, meitantei,” Kaito said, backing off a couple of steps so Conan could hop off the bed. 

“How are we getting out of this building?” Conan inquired instead of responding to the quip. “I can guess that we’re leaving so soon because they’ll probably press harder for contact information tomorrow, which we can’t give.”

“Bingo,” Kaito sang. “You hit the nail on the head.”

“By the way, the prospect of us being siblings is ludicrous,” he added, but then froze. _I’m your younger sibling._

The magician scoffed. “You should be proud to be able to pretend to be related to me,” Kaito declared cheekily. “Besides, I look almost exactly like Kudou Shinichi, don’t I? Your full-sized body and I could be twins! It’s more than reasonable…”

Conan didn’t catch the tail end of Kaito’s sentence, though. Instead, his thoughts turned to the past, ten years ago.

_That’s right… I met Kaitou Kid ten years ago in my school’s library, the first time through first grade,_ Conan recalled. _Since this Kaito would be about my age at that point, that would’ve had to have been the original Kaitou Kid, just a couple years before he vanished… And he was going on about being my sibling, too, for even worse reasons. Runs in the occupation, I guess._

“… Oi, tantei-kun, are you even listening to me?”

Conan blinked out of his reverie and looked at the younger Kid in front of him. He debated on whether or not to inquire about the first magician-thief, but decided to save the topic for a later time, maybe. “Your appearance being so much like mine is also ridiculous,” he said instead. “Why _do_ you look so much like me, anyway?”

“Irony has a sense of humor, maybe,” Kaito offered with a shrug, and though he seemed a bit suspicious, he let it go. “There are a lot of parallels between your life and mine, why not just throw in matching looks as well? Coincidence or fate?”

Conan shook his head. “I don’t believe in coincidence,” he deadpanned, “and I don’t believe in fate, either.”

“Is that why both of them hate you?” Kaito returned, snorting. “Seriously. Have you noticed that wherever you go, dead bodies or murder plots tend to just _happen?_ Maybe I was wrong about this being your first taste in magic - supernatural things just tend to happen around you.”

“I get enough of that from Hattori and his dreams, thank you very much,” Conan retorted. “And I’m not cursed. Don’t even think about it.”

“Sore spot?”

“You don’t even know,” Conan sighed. He crouched to tie on his shoes, which had been sitting beside the bed. Once he finished, he quickly checked that he had all of this things - he’d actually been suspecting that such a thing would happen, so his proper clothes were back on already. “In any case, let’s be on our way.”

“Finally,” Kaito crowed, pushing open the door. 

The two of them snuck out of the room and started down the hall, quickly but silently. For the first few minutes, their escape went smoothly; there were maps posted up every here and there, which helped them locate a convenient exit. They couldn’t just waltz out the front door, of course - that would attract too much attention.

And Kaito wanted to wipe their records off the hospital entirely, so they were detouring to a doctor’s room to sneak a peek at the computer. Once they found a room suiting their needs, Kaito pulled on his gloves and began typing away.

Unfortunately, a security guard chose that exact time to be suspicious, knock on the door, and walk in. “Hey!” he shouted. “You - freeze! What are you doing here?”

Kaito hissed out a curse, but simply dropped a capsule and kicked it over to the guard, who looked down - and got a face full of concentrated sleeping gas. The stocky man dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

Conan spared a moment to check on the guard, then move him into a more natural sleeping position in hopes that he’d think it was a weird dream. Meanwhile, Kaito finished up on the computer, turned it off, and retrieved his sleeping gas capsule.

“One close call is three too many,” Kaito decided, and scooped up a startled Conan. 

“Wait, what the - put me down!”

“Pretend to be sleeping, meitantei. I’m going to drop by the bathroom for a quick costume change, and then a man and his son will be on their way out of here. Of course, if you don’t want to pretend, you can always go to sleep for real,” Kaito added. “You did say you were tired, no?”

“Dammit, Kid-” Conan coughed as something sprayed gas at him, and then everything faded away.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Grinning, Kaito tucked away his sleeping gas as he shifted Conan's limp body in his arm. “Nighty night, tantei-kun,” he sang, repressing the urge to giggle at the unconscious boy. 

Really, though. Detectives were so bothersome. You never knew if they're about to latch onto whatever absurd clue they found and jump into some random case, so this was the safer way. Sure, he understood why they did that - he'd love it if all criminals were automatically teleported to a jail or something right _before_ they committed the crime, but all of his critics were pretty good at administering heavy doses of justice afterwards - however, this was not to place to risk stumbling into a case.

Kaito adjusted his hold on Conan into something more comfortable for both of them, and went over to the door. Pushing it open a crack, he peered into the hallway, checking to see if anyone was coming. 

No such person, fortunately. Fortunately for the nonexistent person, anyway; they wouldn't have to worry about spontaneously falling asleep for seemingly no reason and then waking up to a different hair color and a marker mustache. 

Countless heists made the sneaking come easily, and Kaito managed to slip out of the computer room and reach a bathroom undetected. Looking around, he pulled out Kid's cape and wrapped it around Conan like a cocoon before laying the sleeping boy on a convenient bench-like ledge, head pillowed by Kid's neatly folded suit. 

With a quiet pop, and two doves slipped out from his clothes, fluttering loudly for several moments before settling on his outstretched arm. 

“Yuki-chan, Shiro-chan, keep an eye on tantei-kun for me, alright?” Kaito asked, extending his arm towards Conan. They obediently hopped over to the boy and tucked themselves into the cape-blanket. Conan shifted in his sleep, but didn't wake.

Then, turning to the long mirror above a line of sinks, Kaito pulled out his disguising kit and a new set of clothes, and got to work on making himself seem old enough to be Conan's father. 

Kaito counted himself lucky that he'd brought most of his gear with him to the heist, in preparation for Snake and his goons, and still had those items on him now. He'd have a lot more trouble otherwise. 

A couple quick minutes later, a casually-dressed man in his young thirties reflected Kaito in the mirror. He didn't feel like making up a full identity, especially since nobody was expecting a phantom thief. In fact, in the best case scenario, nobody would even see his disguise, so he decided that the face mask and change of clothes was disguise enough and went back over to the bench, clicking his tongue.

Yuki-chan and Shiro-chan emerged from the bundle of white at his call and settled on his shoulders before going back to hiding in his clothes. Kaito carefully picked up the sleeping detective, switching Kid's cape to a somewhat less conspicuous dark grey cloak as he did so. 

On a second thought, he took Conan's glasses and put them on himself. Hey, if the brat got away with almost a full year of tricking his childhood friend and by changing his age and adding glasses, then Kaito could do the same and easily slide past some strangers. Besides, he'd need the glasses' tracking feature to locate their destination. 

First things first, though, Kaito reminded himself as he poked his head out of the bathroom and looked around for any unlucky passerby - getting out of the hospital itself. 

Then again, that task wasn't very challenging. He crept through the halls undetected, and the one person he _did_ come across, he easily put to sleep. Although he might have unwittingly scared the living daylights out of the poor unsuspecting custodian when he rounded the corner...

Oh well. The worker would recover. Eventually. 

Near the end of his escapade, Kaito's progress was temporarily stalled by the locked emergency door that was to be his way of leave. Picking it with one hand was an interesting experience, but only took a couple minutes. Even its alarm system wasn't all that challenging to deactivate, although he did have to use both hands and set down Conan for that. 

Once he got the alarm and locks disabled, he stowed away his handy little lock-picks and wire cutters and carefully pushed the door open. 

A cool night breeze rushed in, chilling his face and causing his little critic to shiver. Kaito took a brief moment to move Conan around so that his face would be tucked securely against his left shoulder. Mumbled words against his shirt and slight shifting indicated that the effects of the sleeping gas were waning, which convinced Kaito to move all the faster. 

Turning on the tracking glasses, Kaito descended the stairs that stretched from the third floor, where he'd emerged from, to the second floor's emergency escape, then to the ground. When he left the stairs, feet planted firmly on the cemented ground, he looked around. The glasses beeped and indicated that the stickers had been detected, the spot marked by a flashing dot on the lense. 

“Found you,” Kaito murmured happily, turning and walking out of the wide alley he'd been standing in. Taking in his surroundings cautiously, he fast-walked along the sidewalk, headed ever closer to the blinking dot on the glasses. 

However, as doing that didn't take much brain power, Kaito's mind soon began to wander. The first thing on his mind, of course, was his decision to trust tantei-kun with his identity as Kuroba Kaito. Earlier, in the boring alone time and health checks he suffered through in the hospital room, he'd spent most of his time pondering the pros and cons of that idea. Even now, he wondered and worried over what consequences his actions might have. At least the little detective was now more willing to work with him, and they’d have a better chance of getting out of this world.

Well, he was sure that he’d have managed to find a way out by himself at some point, given time and materials. It was just a bit more reassuring to have someone like Kudou Shinichi working towards the same goal...

Internally, Kaito snorted. Just when he had finally managed to find and crush Pandora, he had lost it and had to search for it yet again - frankly, he wouldn't have cared where Pandora teleported itself if it wasn't vital to his going home. And even then, he might've contented himself with the idea that Pandora was out of Snake's grasp possibly forever. His mom and Jii would understand, everyone else would be relieved that he stopped pranking them, Hakuba would fuss but have to focus on other cases, and even Aoko would eventually move on. Probably. Maybe.

The thought twisted at his heart, but... 

No, one of his main motivations was the aforementioned detective. Conan-kun, _Kudou,_ the story of the teen-turned-child... Kaitou Kid's chapter might have may have finally drawn to a complete close, but Edogawa Conan's hadn't. The determined meitantei was after the whole Organization in and of itself, not just Snake's entourage and the Pandora. Heck, the detective hadn’t even known that those two particular parts of the equation existed! Besides, Kaito couldn't just sit by as Pandora tore Kudou away from the people who needed him - especially a certain lady who continued to wait for her childhood friend’s return. How could Kaito just watch that happen, watch another set of lives devastated by Pandora taking someone away (like his dad, he tried not to think). It wasn't fair. 

Life wasn't fair.

But that didn't make it right. 

Besides, the more he pondered, the more Kaito rather wanted to go back. Taking down the organization as a whole would be so _satisfying_. And with the Kaitou Kid retired, Hakuba was likely to blow a gasket at him during school, which would be fun to experience and laugh at. Aoko's dad was likely to do the same, and it would be nice to maybe have a bit of closure by seeing Snake in cuffs and imprisoned. And then there was Aoko herself. He'd miss her loud, rambunctious presence... 

Kaito broke out of his thoughts just in time to stop himself from walking across a street mindlessly. Giving himself a mental shake, he looked both ways before cautiously speed-walking across the road. 

From what little he'd seen of the hospital's equipment and the suits Hiro and his friends had been wearing, it seemed that this universe was a bit ahead of his own in regards to technology. He had no way of knowing how fast the cars were, or what laws against crossing had been implemented, so it was best to be sneaky. Carefully sneaky. But not conspicuously carefully sneaky, either. Inconspicuously carefully sneaky. Yup. While moving as quickly as possible.

When Kaito arrived at the other side of the road, he took care to withhold a sigh of relief. Even in alternate dimensions, it seemed that most people preferred sleep over anything else once the moon rose, so the streets were devoid of vehicles and other onlookers around this time.

He turned his attention back to the insistently blinking dot on the glasses and continued to dutifully follow it. 

Several quiet minutes passed in peace before Kaito finally reached the familiar area where he and Conan had first appeared. Turning off the tracking glasses, he quickly located the few stickers he’d stuck on nearby surfaces and reclaimed them. He’d give them back to the little detective when he woke up. Speaking of whom, the sleeping gas should be wearing off any second now… 

“I owe you at least twelve soccer balls to the face,” came an annoyed mutter into his ear. Kaito cocked his head to the side slightly and grinned.

“Morning, sunshine.” The magician crouched, setting the mostly-awake Conan back onto the ground. “How was your nap?”

“I’m sure _you_ found my ‘nap’ delightful,” Conan groused, but his hair was tousled and he really just looked like a kid fresh out of bed. Bleary eyes and all. Kaito quashed the urge to mess up his hair even more. “And give me back my glasses, you jerk.”

“But you don’t need it, do you?” Kaito inquired with a brow raised. He stood up straight and, more importantly, out of the little detective’s reach. He wasn’t stupid. Now that he was fully awake, Conan was eying him the way a cat did an obstacle before pouncing on it with claws unsheathed and fur bristling. Oops. Not a fun image, nope, tantei-kun could be _vicious_ when he wanted to… “Nobody knows us here besides for those five people, anyway!” he added, trying to move on smoothly. 

Conan opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it without a word. For a short series of moments, he looked like he was at odds with himself. Vaguely amused but mostly bemused, Kaito was moments away from offering a laxative before Conan’s gaze sharpened and honed onto him again, having resolved whatever it was that he’d been thinking over. 

“Just don’t break them,” the detective eventually said. 

Kaito blinked at Conan for a moment, realization trickling through. After so long of concealing himself behind those glasses, it was little wonder that the detective felt overexposed without them. “Of course,” he responded, a little softer. 

Blue eyes drilled into him, vaguely suspicious, but thankfully shifted away with a heavy exhale. “So... What now?”

“Let's take a poke around,” Kaito suggested lightly, pushing the borrowed glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Nobody's going to see us this late - or this _early_ , I guess - so we don't have to worry about peeking and prying eyes.” 

Raising a skeptical brow, Conan inquired drily, “What do you think you'll find, Kid? It's too dark to see details, anyway.”

“First of all,” Kaito held up a finger, “my name is Kaito. Kuroba Kaito.” 

“Fine, _Kuroba_.” Rolled eyes. “My question still stands.”

“You've got your fancy little flashlight watch, and of course I have a flashlight for reasons you need not to pry into,” Kaito said matter-of-factly, making his said flashlight appear in his hand with a pop. It was small, light, reasonably powerful, and endlessly useful when it came to blackouts in a heist (which he was usually the cause of). “I think we're good, Conan-kun. Unless you're _that_ afraid of the dark, of course.” 

“Idiot.” Conan glanced at his watch. “This thing has limited battery life, and I'd rather save it for a more dire situation.” His disgruntled tone made Kaito wonder if he'd had bad experiences with the watch giving out on him at an inconvenient time. 

“This _is_ a dire situation,” Kaito whined in response. “We need to find _clues_ and _evidence_ and all that other detective-ing stuff that you critics love to pick at for no reason.”

“It's for the cases that always end up cropping up,” came the annoyed response.  “Murders and mysteries don't give me much of a choice when it comes down to it. Either I solve them, or the truth never comes to light - in time, anyway.”

Kaito coughed once. “Right. ‘There is only one truth’ and all that,” Kaito intoned boredly, in a perfect imitation of Kudou Shinichi’s voice. 

A moment later found the magician flinching and hopping away with a yelp, a decently-sized chunk of electrified stone debris crashing through the air where he'd just been standing. 

“Behave,” Conan snapped. Sparks crackled around his hellish shoes warningly, causing Kaito to put his hands up in pacification. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed nervously. _Scary tantei-kun is scary._

“I'm going to take a look around the city,” Conan continued, half-glaring. “Since you put me to sleep, I have no idea how this place is laid out at all, and I'd rather be at least somewhat familiar with the area. You can poke around here all you want to in the meantime.”

“But wouldn't a child wandering alone at the dead of night be suspicious?” Kaito pointed out. He paused a moment to make sure he wasn't about to get kicked or knocked over by a kicking projectile for saying that before he continued. “And what if you get lost?”

“People underestimate kids, and you'll find me at whatever police station this world has, interrogating that Callaghan guy,” Conan replied, rubbing his temples. “Aside from that, I don't doubt that you'll find me somehow.” 

“Such faith!” Kaito clapped his hands together in the perfect image of a delighted toddler, a devious grin splitting his face. “Why, tantei-kun-”

“I'm leaving now, bye,” Conan cut him off in annoyance, spinning on his heel and stalking off. Agitation practically oozed out of every motion the little detective made, and Kaito felt rather sorry for the guy. This whole dimension and magic thing must've had him at the end of the line, what with him previously centering his whole life around what he believed was truth and logic. 

Well, Kaito was fine with letting Conan blow off some steam in a walk; it reduced the chances of him blowing up at the magician instead. Which would definitely be a lot more painful. 

Just to make sure Conan didn't wrap himself on anything _too_ dangerous while he was alone, though... Kaito popped a dove into open air with a plume of stage smoke. White wings beat the air for a moment before the bird found its balance on his finger. “Sweet little Shiro-chan, could you do the great Kaitou Kid a favor?” he crooned, touching the underside of her beak with a sly grin. “Tantei-kun's kinda mad, and he needs some alone time, but he shouldn't be _too_ alone. Keep track of him for me, but stay out of sight, okay?” 

Shiro-chan cooed at him, which he took as an affirmative. With an upward motion of his arm, he released her into the sky. She circled above him twice before winging her way after Conan's direction. 

“And now that that's taken care of... Time to poke around a bit,” Kaito mused to himself, glancing around. 

With a click, his flashlight gleamed as its beam raked through the darkness, allowing Kaito to survey the ruins of the building. He walked over to the center of the rubble and slowly walked from there in a spiraling pattern heading outwards, stopping every so often to examine the debris on the ground.  

Other than a couple of odd little machines bunched together in groups, each no bigger than a finger, plus some dried-up goo and disturbed earth, though, he didn't find anything that could be of use to them. 

Tantei-kun was right, but hey, at least he'd given it a shot. 

Kaito plopped onto the ground with a sigh, stowing away his now-dead flashlight. The battery had, fortunately, only given out shortly _after_ he'd completed his search. Peering at the slowly brightening sky, he wondered where Conan had gone, and if he needed to fetch him... 

Nah. Shiro-chan hadn't come back yet, which meant that nothing too awful had happened. Or something happened to the dove. Or the dove had gotten trapped with the kid. 

Hm. That wasn't a good thought. 

Kaito strained to get back onto his feet - but his exhausted body refused to move, and he slumped back against the piece of wall he was leaning against. He usually lasted longer than just a couple of days before getting tired and sleepy, but heists always sapped his energy, and he'd spent the night before last planning for the heist and studying for a test. 

Instead of fighting his tired dizziness, Kaito decided to go search for his critic and dove after a nap, maybe... Once the sun rose and morning came, he'd... be able to blend in... with the rest... of the... people... 

His eyes slid shut, and his vision tunneled.

* * *

 

In a place Kaito hadn't expected to lay eyes on for a long while, the night trudged on.

The part of the roof where Kaitou Kid had fallen off with Conan in tow had already been taped off - and so had the places on the ground where the thief's razor-edged cards had held off the attacking assassin, who’d hopefully been successfully arrested by this point, along with his cohort on the other roof. 

Nakamori-keibu stood between the two sections, brows furrowed pensively. Other officers busied about behind him, murmuring quietly and walking lightly, none willing to disturb the inspector while he stewed. 

After a moment of quiet stillness around Nakamori's personal space bubble, one of the rookies on the Task Force, still stained with paint, was gently pushed and sympathetically over in his direction. He spoke up with a cautious, slightly wavering voice. “S-sir, aside from the broken monocle, none of the patrols have reported any traces of Kaitou Kid or Edogawa Conan-kun around the base of the building-”

“Of course they haven't,” Nakamori spat angrily, turning on the rookie. “Tonight was clear, and Kid's got a hang glider. He'd never go down with a fall - especially if he had a brat clinging to him!”

The other man shrunk back. “Er - yes, but nobody saw any signs of him flying away, either-”

“The guy can disappear into thin air whenever the hell it suits him, of _course_ nobody f'king saw him if he didn't want to be f'king seen! Didn't I tell them to search the nearby civilians?” 

By now, the poor guy was sweating and shaking so nervously that it was a surprise his teeth weren't audibly chattering. “U-um, yessir, a-and nothing has been found so far, sir. A-ah, and Edogawa Conan-kun's guardians, particularly Sleeping Kogorou-san, would like to-”

“Help? We don't need a private eye's help, we need-”

A crimson hue shot through the air, and suddenly Nakamori's words were muffled in a blur of scarlet static. 

Red. _Magic?_ Kaito wondered blearily. _Red magic..._

_Akako_. 

After a moment, the shimmering static cleared, but the lingering thought remained. 

“-Got it? Now go!” Nakamori was demanding, causing the rookie to squeak, nod, and flee - but Kaito wasn't paying attention, he turned in a circle and tried to spot his classmate, who _knew_ magic and its inner workings, and could _help_ them get back home, somehow, _anyhow_ - 

Everything blurred again, static whipping violently in red across his vision as he clawed his way to awareness, straining for something he didn't know -

_She wouldn't even be here, she wasn't here at that heist, why am I looking for her -_

Something seized the static and ripped it away along with the roof and the night, pushing him away with a possessive burst of _mine!_ Suddenly, everything fell quiet, as if an unnoticed buzzing noise had been silenced. Kaito's vision cleared. 

He was in the portal space again. And he was staring at who he suspected was the culprit of this time's teleportation. 

Akako Koizumi stared back at him. Some sort of red energy curled off of her silhouette, several strands twisting in the air as they dissipated. Her lips parted and formed words, but her voice echoed from everywhere but her throat. 

_'Are you... Kuroba-kun? How… What are you doing here?'_

He couldn't respond. He tried to open his mouth or move towards her, and found his body unresponsive. Unbreathing.

_'No... No, you’re not. Who are you?'_ Akako narrowed her eyes. _'That body is Kur - is mine. Who are you to take it?'_

He felt himself shift, ever so slightly, and blink once. Discomfort flooded his system. Slow suffocation? _E..._

_'Is Kuroba-kun there?'_ Akako took half a step closer. Her power thickened, burdening the air with its weight and glaring heat. _‘You. Whoever, or whatever you are. Release him - he is not yours. Let him speak to me.’_

Kaito began to sweat. He tried to breathe, to inhale, to speak - but nothing happened. _El..._

_'Kuroba-kun, can you hear me?'_

_‘Kuroba.’_ That wasn’t her voice. That wasn’t his own, either. He wanted to breathe. _‘O-oi, Kuroba!’_

_Elp… is…_

Two sounds wrenched themselves out of his soul but went unheard, undetected by all and any. As soon as they faded, the locks in his body gave away, and Kaito shuddered in a huge breath. His vision swam. He moved forward, and crumpled.

Akako's eyes widened. _‘Kuroba-kun-?’_

_‘Wake up,_ Kuroba!’

Everything flashed red and black and white - and suddenly Kaito was staring into blue eyes, a blue sky behind the face right in front of him.

“Kuroba?” came Conan’s worried inquiry. “You - you weren’t breathing.”

Kaito tried to swallow. “I think I almost died.”

* * *

 

It took a moment for the statement to register, and then a much longer stretch of time to calm the shrunken detective down. And it took even _longer_ to explain what he meant. 

“Let me get this straight.” Conan pinched the bridge of his nose and rocked his weight to the back of his heels. “You dreamed your way back into our world, and after watching Nakamori-keibu for a bit, there was red... static... and you got sucked into the portal space again, where you saw your witch classmate. And for some reason you couldn't control your body to talk to her or anything, so you weren't breathing, just staring at her as she asked you a bunch of questions but seemed to be talking to something else, until just before you woke up.”

“That just about sums it up,” Kaito confirmed, shuffling a deck of cards in any way but the conventional means. “Fun, no?”

“No, it wasn't,” Conan groaned. “You said it yourself - just how close were you to asphyxiation?” 

“So you do care! I'm so touched,” Kaito wailed dramatically, lifting Conan off the ground in a hug. He did not want to think about how long he’d been forced to hold his breath, thank you very much. “My favorite critic finally admits that he's not the emotionless rock he tries to make everyone believe he is!”

“That sounds more like _Haibara_ , if you ask me - and let me go already!”

“But if I do that, you'll kick me!”

“Damn right I will, and I’ll do it _twice_ if you won’t let me down right this instant!”

Kaito gasped in mock horror. “Language, tantei-kun! Sheesh, what are you kids learning these days, and from whom? Such a foul mouth. We should wash it out with soap.”

“I learned it from the high-and-mighty Sleeping Kogorou,” Conan shot back sarcastically, managing to writhe out of Kaito's grasp. He didn't quite manage to land on his feet, stumbling onto his hands and knees, but he quickly scrambled back up. “And don't you dare to even try doing that again, or you'd better get used to picking locks with one hand and running away with half a leg!”

“Alright, alright, no need to get so violent.” _I thought the walk was to help him cool off, which would help him_ not _get so riled up at me. He must be really annoyed at this whole situation._ Which Kaito somewhat understood, but still. 

In any case, it was all too obvious that a subject change was in order. 

“Did you find anything interesting while you were out?” Kaito asked, flipping through his cards idly as he sat himself on one of the ruined half-walls. “You were gone for quite a while, so you should’ve accomplished _something_ , right…?” Considering he apparently didn’t even vent on anything that wasn’t named Kaito.

“I found some information and our next destination, if you’d call such a thing ‘interesting’,” Conan answered sourly.

Kaito paused mid-shuffle before vanishing the deck up his sleeve and putting his chin on his hands, elbows propped on his lap. “Ooh, do tell.”

“There was a strange battle of sorts yesterday afternoon - we appeared near the end of it, I think. The Callaghan guy that those people had been talking about, he was the culprit, and he was trying to get revenge on a guy named Alistair Krei. His motive is his daughter's supposed death during a demonstration involving highly experimental teleportation technology, which Krei is responsible for. Seems like Callaghan bought himself some time and cover by faking his death by blowing up part of his university, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, during project presentations for applicants. One victim of the fire was a Tadashi Hamada, who used to be a student there.” 

“Oh, I remember that name,” Kaito recalled. “That's Hiro-kun's brother, whose name was on that green chip I returned.”

“Yeah. Hiro somehow found Callaghan out and, with his friends, tried to attack him. They weren't successful at their first tries, one of which happened at an abandoned island somewhere close by, where the portal demonstration took place. That's probably where they found out the backstory of his plot. The final big confrontation happened here, where Callaghan used some sort of technology to reconstruct and turn on one of the portals for a one-way trip, with Krei's life and business stamped on the ticket. Hiro and his group managed to stop him from throwing Krei in there, but somehow found out that the daughter was still alive. Hiro went in there with someone to save her - he crashed into us on the way out.”

Kaito whistled. “How scary. So, did you read that off of a newspaper, or...?” 

“Only some of it,” Conan corrected in an offended tone. “I doubt any of them know that one of them was Hiro - he's a minor, after all. No, they only published the bare bones; miscellaneous mentions of Alistair Krei, Robert Callaghan, his miraculously alive daughter, and a portal.”

“That’s rather little,” Kaito remarked.

“Protection of minors. I’d know, I’ve been using that excuse rather often in the past while.” Conan smiled wryly. “Besides, they probably didn’t know very much anyway. Most of the articles just filled in the gaps with dramatic filler. You know, the type of hypothetical conspiracy theories that sell quickly, while there’s no evidence.”

Raising a brow, Kaito filled in, “And from those itsy bitsy little hints, you came up with that huge deduction of yours?”

“Yeah. Back at the hospital, they mentioned an island, and I figured from that-”

“No need to explain!” Kaito quickly cut in, waving his hands to stop Conan as he hopped off of his perch on the rubble. The magician had long since learned (mostly from his classmate) that asking a detective to elaborate on a deduction was opening a floodgate of words that didn’t actually go over his head, but was nonetheless endlessly more boring than the end result itself. _Yeah, I’m looking at you, Hakuba._ “Got it, great, brilliant deduction. So! What’s that next destination you were talking about?”

After the little detective spent a full ten seconds on staring at Kaito, utterly unamused, he said slowly, “Callaghan himself. That jail they said he’s in? I found it. And now that it’s a more decent hour, we can go and pay him a visit.”

Catching himself before he could nod in mindless agreement, Kaito tilted his head to the side with a blink. “Why would we need to visit him?”

“I’m not a fool, _Kid_ ,” Conan drawled. “You were planning to drag us over there at some point anyhow. I saw that look on your face when Hiro's group mentioned it at the hospital; I know you have something in mind. Just cut to the chase, and let’s go.”

“Thinking on my wavelength now, aren’t we,” Kaito teased.

“No, just saving time.” Conan half-turned around, taking a couple steps in the direction of the road. “Well? Are we going?”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to be so bossy.” Kaito grinned, walking half a step behind him. His smile faded slightly, however, as he thought back to the dream he’d had. It was… Too realistic to be something he just made up, of course. And with Akako having been there, anything was possible.

It had been scary, not being able to control his body. Not being able to tell himself to breathe. And that one time he blinked, and shifted - those motions hadn’t been _him_. It was - it was almost as if someone or something else had taken the strings to the puppet, but didn’t use them. Didn’t know _how_ to use them. 

Kaito wasn’t sure he wanted to sleep again. Would all of his dreams be like that, while he was here in this other world? To dream achingly of home, only to realize the powerlessness he had over his own self? He hoped not. Going sleepless was equally unappealing. 

Akako had seemed to know something. 

She’d said… She’d said that the body - was not _yours_ , whoever ‘you’ was. Was he being possessed, then? By what?

Although his Poker Face kept his grin intact, Kaito internally bashed his head against a wall. Now he understood why logic and non-magical stuff was so appealing to those detectives. One could think things through with scarce pieces, and come up with the whole puzzle. But with magic, there simply was no elimination. It could very literally be anything he could ever dream up, and even things he couldn’t.

“Now who’s not paying attention?” Conan asked smugly, breaking into his thoughts. Hiding his inattention, Kaito assembled his mask into something innocent as he gazed at the detective.

“ _You’re_ not paying attention,” Kaito said, careful. _What did I miss?_

Apparently he’d asked so out loud, because Conan responded with an all too casual, “I rambled on about the scientific application of _cookies_ in solving a murder trick, and you didn’t so much as blink. Actually, you even nodded along.”

“How do you know I wasn’t just seriously agreeing with you?” Kaito shot back. Cookies? _Really, tantei-kun? Those kids of yours have corrupted you._

“Because I just lied. I was talking about soccer balls and how the Detective Boys aren’t quite as bad at it as they used to be, when I first taught them how to play.” Conan smirked at the baffled thief, enjoying his tiny victory a little too much. “Just because I pursue the truth doesn’t mean I tell it all the time, you know.”

Kaito opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. The sneaky little brat! It was like that one time when he tumbled off the roof and gave the thief a heart attack, all so he could show off that annoying paraglider… “You’re annoying,” Kaito declared.

“Says the thief who goes around parading in a white suit and plays pranks on the police as he’s flying away,” Conan retorted. “No wonder they call you a Kid. ”

“You're so mean, tantei-kun,” Kaito complained. His lips quirked up in a smile, though. 

“Hey, have you seen some of those poor police officers? With all that paint and glue and feathers stuck to their clothes, you're the mean one. Any one of those things take forever to wash off, I've heard, and you love to combine them.” 

Kaito concealed his surprise with a quick, “That I do - what did you do to ‘overhear’ that, eavesdrop on them?” Actually, he’d thought that the Task Force had long since figured out that vinegar solved most of those icky sticky issues; that was why he'd been more relentless with using those particular traps, lately... Well, now he knew why Nakamori-keibu was even more high-strung than usual recently. Thinking back to all the containers that he emptied into pranking the police force, Kaito was kind of tempted to send in an apology note.

Of course, he couldn’t do such a thing until he got back home. First things first.

Dragging his attention back to the present, Kaito picked up his pace slightly until he was walking right beside Conan, to keep up the appearance of an elder brother. More people were out and about, now, so he needed to be a bit more careful with maintaining their cover.

After a couple of moments, Conan slowed into a turn, eyes set on the dank-looking building in front of him. Kaito almost went right along with him before he remembered exactly what type of building they were going into, and what kind of people they were supposed to be posing as. 

“Hey, wait, Conan-kun,” Kaito called, grabbing the detective’s arm before he could move off. “That’s not a very good place to be, kiddo, so let’s go to that restaurant you liked and pick up some food from there instead of wasting time here, alright?”

The silly little guy actually looked like he was about to protest, for a moment, before their situation came back to mind and realization flickered across his eyes. “Ah, okay,” Conan chirped childishly, holding onto Kaito’s sleeve as he played along with the act. “Ne, can we get ice cream afterwards then, nii-chan?”

“That depends on how well you behave,” Kaito answered, smiling. As expected from someone who’d been living a false life for almost a year, tantei-kun wasn’t half bad at acting, and was actually more than decent when he put his heart into it. Of course, if Kaito ever said as much out loud, he ran a high risk of serious bodily harm. “But only _afterwards_. You don’t want to spoil your appetite before you eat your food.”

“Aw, okay,” Conan pouted. He peered up at Kaito with huge, wide puppy-dog eyes, and suddenly Kaito decided those eyes were a power that such a devious little detective shouldn’t have. Ever. “Afterwards, then. Promise?”

“Pinky promise.” Kaito kept his smile glued to his face, even as he leaned down to mutter into Conan’s ear, “Sheesh, with all that sweet talk, you’re going to give me a cavity. I don’t even _get_ cavities.”

“I can imagine you with a cavity,“ Conan murmured back. “Wait, no, here's a better idea - imagine you in your Kid outfit, but with braces.”

“That's not even funny.” Kaito was more than glad that he didn't have braces or some other distinctive thing like that. His identity was debatable already, what with Hakuba flaunting his suspicions everywhere and Akako sometimes nodding along when she didn't think anyone besides Kaito was paying attention. Thank goodness Aoko defended his innocence so furiously - although that made him feel all the guiltier. 

He'd have to tell her. Somehow. Maybe once they got back, when Kaitou Kid announced his retirement. 

... It would be smart to remove all mops within a mile radius before doing that. 

Speaking of which, Kaito wondered how Conan expected to survive telling his almost-girlfriend his real identity as Kudou Shinichi, when that time rolled around. She had, pardon the word choice, a seriously _murderous_ set of skills, as Kaito was highly aware of. 

“You walked us into a dead end,” Conan remarked, staring at the wall in front of them. They'd been headed down an alley, but now found their progress halted by a big, fat wall. Kaito gazed at it for a moment before shaking his head. 

“We just needed to get out of sight. Now, I've got the perfect chance to get us in there,” he explained, turning to the building on their left - which was the back of the jail that Conan had tried to lead him to. 

The little detective widened his eyes. “Oh, no. That's not a good idea.”

“It totally is. Don't tell me you've never snuck around to get into places you shouldn't be in.” Kaito smirked when Conan flushed and glanced away. “Yeah, I thought so.”

“It's different when an internationally-wanted thief is doing it,” he huffed, trying and failing to defend himself.

“Keep telling yourself that, and you might actually start to believe it.” Kaito kept a careful eye on the security cameras on the targeted building, taking out his grappling hook. It would go just like a heist; flawlessly. Hopefully without the fanfare, though. This would be the one time he was okay with going without all the popularity. His gaze flitted upwards. The next roof over would be a nice place to begin from... “So, tantei-kun, let's get started.”

“I'm really annoyed at you.”

“I'm flattered. Now, come on - time's wasting away.”

* * *

 

So maybe it was a _little_ harder than Kaito expected. _Maybe_ they had eleven close calls, and _maybe_ they ended up actually tripping one of the alarms. _Maybe_ they ended up having to tranquilize the guard that came to check the alarm, faked his voice into the radio, told whoever was on the other end that he was going to take a longer look around, and maybe Kaito stole his clothes and left him in his underwear in a closet. 

_Maybe_ Kaito was caught off guard by the higher-than-he-was-used-to technology. But only maybe. Just maybe.

Probably.

“When we get caught, I'm saying that you're an insane alien who kidnapped me against my will,” Conan hissed, eyes darting around hurriedly as he bounced on the balls of his feet. 

“Shut up and keep watch, I'm trying to concentrate,” Kaito snapped back in a hushed voice, rummaging through the pockets of his stolen officer's uniform, trying to find the jingling noise before someone came to check up on why this officer was taking so long. “Keys, keys, where did he put them... Ah, nope, never mind, they’ve got fancy ID cards with all the - wait, what do you mean by ' _when_ ' we get caught? It's if! And hopefully not at all!”

“Kuroba, at the rate we're going, we're going to get caught red handed. Move quicker!” 

“Ye of little faith, hold your horses, let me scan the little card - there!” The door popped open, leaving the disguised thief and detective free to proceed down their final stretch. “See? Go, go.”

Ushering Conan in quickly, Kaito locked the door behind them and glanced down the hall - nobody there. Good. Maybe the guard that was supposed to be here was on a bathroom or snack break, or maybe he was asleep in a closet a couple corridors away because of two rather literal aliens and a tranquilizer dart. Who knew?

Either way, they had to pick up the pace. Someone might come back in a burst of responsibility, or the one in the closet would eventually wake up.

Since Conan was the only one of the two who knew what the imprisoned man looked like, he guided Kaito through the hall and peered in the different cells briefly before moving on. Some were empty, and some were filled. The few that took notice and looked up in time to see the kid leading the officer said nothing, but were probably super confused at the sight.

One hurried, skidded stop later, Kaito found himself in front of the person he assumed was Callaghan. The defeated-looking man glanced up at him after a moment.

“What do you - why’s there a kid here?” he asked, staring at Conan. Kaito glanced down at the detective, who’d apparently discarded his kiddy face sometime during the rush and was now in full detective mode.

“We need to know about your portal,” Conan said flatly, plunging in before he could be stopped. Kaito quashed the urge to bang his head on the wall and, instead, sighed. “Everything you can remember. You messed with something you shouldn’t have, and we need to correct it.”

Callaghan continued to gaze at Conan, brows furrowing. “What? That - no, everyone - Abigail is alive. The kids are alive. That - _Krei_ is still alive and breathing.”

“Yes,” Kaito answered, matching up the names to what he remembered. “Um, but you kind of teleported Conan-kun and I halfway across the world.” Which was more probable than halfway across the universe. Slightly. “We kind of need a way to get back home that doesn’t, you know, involve discussing why we don’t have passports.”

The man stared at Kaito for a long while. “You’re an officer.”

“… I borrowed the uniform.” Conan twitched. Kaito wasn’t sure if he was holding back annoyance or laughter, but he sheepishly pushed his - Conan’s - glasses up the bridge of his nose a little. “Anyway, is there anything you can tell us that-”

“Could help you rebuild the portal?” Callaghan finished, shaking his head already. Kaito’s hopes fell a bit. “No. It’s too dangerous to rebuild - and even if you somehow got ahold of the old notes and remains at the island, half of which has been decimated, you’d never find the technology or power to turn it on. Aside from that, there’s no knowing where you’ll pop out, if at all… Wait, how did you two get sucked into it in the first place?”

Instead of responding to the rather unanswerable question, Kaito put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. “An island, huh?” he murmured. “Hey, Conan-kun, Hiro’s group mentioned something about it too, didn’t they?”

Suddenly surging to his feet, Callaghan shouted, “No! You can’t-”

“Nobody tells the Kid where he can or cannot go,” Kaito cackled, already plotting out a plan.

Conan glanced at him. “I feel like I should get ready to grab a map or something.”

“Oh, _you_ don’t have to do a thing,” Kaito purred. He settled into a more Kid-like mindset, grinning. “Just don’t stray too far, or you might get lost in the crowd. This is a rather busy city, is it not?”

“Promise to return it.” Having deduced his intentions, Conan pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. “Promise me.”

“Don’t worry, I will. I wouldn’t have a use for it anyway - huh, I wonder if it gets reception back home?”

“We’re not finding out, Kuroba.”

“Wait - stop, don’t do it, it ruins lives!” Callaghan protested, scrambling up to the front of the cell and grasping at the bars. “You’ll be gone forever, Abigail was _so lucky_ , and she had protective gear around her-”

“Luck is something this guy tends to have in abundance,” Conan countered, pointing at Kaito. The magician grinned shamelessly. “Besides, we made it through the first time; we can make it back. All we need to do is shake things up a little, and look for a new angle.”

“Is that how you solve all your cases?” Kaito inquired suddenly, curious. “I mean, I’ve seen or read up on some of those, and the murder tricks you have to decipher are ridiculous.”

Callaghan stared at the two of them unbelievingly, before sagging and backing up. “I see that I can’t convince you. Just know that I warned you ahead of time.”

“Sir,” Conan said, quietly, uncharacteristically respectful, “you have to understand _us._ That portal is our only way home. I… We have people waiting for us.”

The other man had no response to that, but Kaito observed his critic appraisingly, knowing who he’d been thinking of.

Some had been waiting longer than others.

* * *

 

“Holy _crap_ \- don’t look, don’t look,” Conan hissed, yanking on Kaito’s sleeve as he pulled him away from the vent they’d just slipped out from. “Don’t say a thing, just keep walking. Act normal.”

“You’re not acting very normal,” Kaito stage-whispered. His eyes darted towards the cause of their panic. “They’re not looking, don’t worry. But we should probably get out of here anyway.”

“I wasn’t talking about them, I was talking about _you._ ” Conan slowed down, however, and loosened his grip on Kaito’s newly retrieved clothes to a more natural grip. “Okay. Good. We’re good. That was too close.”

Hiro and his friends - plus an odd balloon-looking robot thing - and just strolled casually into the building that they’d just escaped from, thankfully unseen. However, the two had almost been busted when the group passed _right_ where they’d been about to hop on down from the vent, which succeeded in giving Kaito a near heart attack. Especially since Conan had half a leg sticking out at the time.

Conan’s previous statement to Callaghan about Kaito’s luck proved true, however, as Hiro’s entourage trotted on without a second thought.

Unwilling to test it further, though, the duo hightailed it out of the area, in the end finding themselves right back at the place they appeared in. Or near it, anyway; some police officers had already started to tape off and move around the place, so Kaito and Conan roosted in an abandoned-looking warehouse practically next-door, but had been somehow left untouched by the mess.

“We’re going to have to find a place to rent a boat or something,” Kaito mused, plopping down in a corner. “Since it’s an island and all.”

“No, actually, we should be able to find one that’s ready to go,” Conan corrected, sliding down the wall beside him. “Callaghan had to have a way to get to the island without others knowing, since that’s apparently where he did a lot of his plotting after he faked his death. If we can find the boat or other vehicle that he always took there, then we can just take that.”

“Good point… But where would he dock it?” 

“That’s where a map would be useful. We should get our hands on one… soon…” Conan yawned.

Kaito grinned at him. “How’s being a kid treating you?”

“Shut up, excuse me if I’m tired.” Conan blinked slowly, visibly attempting to think through the haze of drowsiness. “I can wait until proper night, though, so we don’t stay off-time for our whole stay here.”

“If you say so.” Actually, Kaito himself was feeling rather sleepy. Which wasn’t right, he’d had a nap shortly earlier. In fact, the onset of the feeling was too sudden to be normal… 

In the lull of the conversation, though, both of them drifted off, something else tugging their consciousnesses under.

* * *

 

Kaito stood on the roof once more, but didn’t notice anything else aside for the fact that it was still night before the visuals were whisked away in a blur of red into the depths of the portal. He stood on nothing, just like before - but this time, he could move, and he could breathe.

This time, Conan stood beside him.

_“Oh, good, it worked. You’re here.”_

“Akako,” Kaito said, and the witch smirked at him briefly before the expression dissolved into neutrality. Then, she turned towards Conan. 

_“Can you breathe?”_ she asked seriously. _“Are you in control of yourself at all?”_

He nodded, a little jerky in his movements, but that was to be expected.

_“Good,”_ Akako said, the seriousness fading away slightly. _“Someone needs to rein in this idiot while he’s there.”_

“Hey,” Kaito cut in, “since we seem to have gotten ourselves stuck in an alternate dimension and all… A little help would be nice, you know.”

She raised a brow at him. “ _… Idiot. I can see that. However, my magic doesn’t extend its power across dimensions. This is already pushing it. You’re going to have to help yourselves out of it in the same way you helped yourselves in.”_

Kaito frowned. “What? But-”

_“Yes, I called you both here - but that’s only because there’s a hook, per say, that I can latch on to. I wasn’t even the one who ‘installed’ that hook. You know why I crossed your dream earlier today, Kuroba-kun?”_ She paused. _“I didn’t. In fact, using my powers hardly crossed my mind. No;_ you _are the one who reeled me into the subconscious world, and you costed me a perfectly good cup, too.”_

“Wait, but that’s saying that…” Kaito shook his head. “But I don’t have powers.”

_“No.”_ Akako sighed. _“No, you don’t, and thank goodness for that. On the other hand, that gem of yours likes to… share.”_


	4. Chapter 4

The meaning of Akako’s words didn’t really register right off the bat, as expected.

Of course, the first thing out of Kaito’s mouth in a quippy response, quickly enough to pass off as a reflexive reply, was a chirpy, “Sharing is caring!” A silent pause, as the words actually sunk into Kaito’s head properly. Then, “Wait, you mean _share,_ as in - gem, power, give…?”

_“Somewhat, and yet somewhat not.”_ Raking her gaze over Conan and Kaito warningly, Akako continued, _“Make no mistake, either of you; despite what the word_ share _implies, this power is not yours to wield or yours at all. It obeys only itself and its original master, and will react however it will to situations that demand its presence, without any regard for what you might think or need at that time.”_

“Then what was the point of even lending that power to us?” Conan asked, exasperated. He looked a little pale, but mostly frustrated at the situation, which was about right for him. Having to deal with the illogical probably put the little detective on the last shreds of his nerves.

_“Who says it was willingly lent to you?”_ Akako shifted, glancing at her hand. The red shine continued to outline her body, gleaming, as she examined it. _“Magic is a form of energy, detective. It still prefers to go down the path of least resistance. While bodies have natural conduits through which power flows, to hold power within a dead stone is weak, and difficult for the magic to remain. Thus, it likes to share. To get out, and spread its influence where it is able to thrive. However,”_ she added as Kaito opened his mouth again, cutting him short before he could even start, _“all of this is simply speculation. Without being in the presence of the gem itself, or either of your physical bodies, this speculation is all I can do.”_

A little bit miffed at being cut off, Kaito puffed up his cheeks indignantly and turned his head, but continued to listen. Conan, on the other hand, looked unsure. “Back at the heist, when we were standing on that roof,” he said slowly, “I… When I touched the gem, it didn’t feel - dead.”

Akako blinked in mild surprise. _“Is that so?”_ she mused, considering the little detective’s words. _“Well, for start with, I didn’t mean ‘dead’ in a literal sense. I’m not surprised that you didn’t know, but a dead stone is one without runes or any other form of power impressed onto it to create the channels of energy, so to speak. Still… What part of it doesn’t feel dead to you?”_

“It felt like touching a heart,” Conan said bluntly, to which Kaito started in shock. “That gem - I could’ve sworn it was even _beating_ when I picked it up, like a heart or something. You didn’t feel it?” he asked, addressing Kaito.

The magician shook his head. “Probably because I was wearing gloves, while you had direct contact,” he guessed.

_“Fairly accurate,”_ Akako said. _“Such objects do tend to transfer one thing or another through touch. In any case, my time runs short. Don't expect constant contact, this one conversation is taxing enough as it is.”_ Already, her image wavered and the energy around her began to slow down and thin out. 

“Wait, one more thing,” Kaito broke in before the witch could slip away. “Are we going to dream this every time we go to sleep? It's... not very restful. At all.”

_“I'd imagine.”_ Akako looked vaguely amused, though it was hard to tell if that was what she was really feeling. _“It's because you're so close to where the portal once was, where the barriers between these two worlds has worn away and has yet to recover. You long for home, so your mind and soul wander in your sleep, stray across the weak point to your home world, and you dream of being there as a result. If it bothers you too much, simply close your eyes elsewhere - either way, though, your body still gets what rest it needs, even if your mind and soul do not.”_

“That doesn't sound healthy, but okay,” Conan remarked sarcastically. A thoughtful look flitted across his face, however, as he digested the information and processed it carefully, not just understanding, but also _using_. Kaito looked on curiously as Conan added on in a lower tone of voice, half to himself, “In that case, though...”

_“The two of you will figure it out, I'm sure. Find your way back soon.”_ And with that, Akako vanished in a flare of power. 

“Great.” Kaito clapped his hands together like a delighted child, the sound resounding sharply through the emptiness. Pulling up a smile to conceal his mild bafflement at the new information Akako had brought them, he continued, “On that happy note, how are we getting out of here?”

* * *

The wakeup was abrupt and messy.

Kaito knew that Akako’s magic could only hold her there for so long, since it wasn’t meant to be able to communicate across dimensions in the first place. More to do with lust and stuff like that, he guessed. But once she was gone, whatever spell she’d used to drag him and Conan into the dream vanished along with her - and unfortunately, it didn’t see fit to push them back into wakefulness like a courteous person would, so the two boys were momentarily stuck.

After a bit of pondering, they decided to try maybe tapping into whatever power Akako said they had - “How did she even know about that, anyway?” “Some spell? Who knows.” - to haul themselves out of the eerily empty and zero-gravity area.

As expected with attempting something that related to real magic, they failed magnificently.

“How in the world would we use that, anyway?” Conan scowled fiercely at his hand, which was innocently as normal and non-magical as possible. “She said we wouldn’t be able to control it, after all.”

“Maybe if we just panic enough,” Kaito suggested, feeling a bit dizzy and lightheaded. It was his own fault, of course, for spinning around in the lack of gravity while he was bored, but he was _bored._ They weren’t making any progress whatsoever, so far as he could tell. “And then it’ll feel our emotions and panic with us and then explode!”

An incredulous look from Conan. “…I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get out of this in one piece.”

“But you’re not here!” Kaito cried dramatically, shifting his weight until he was hovering upside down once more, while pivoting in place. Conan raised a brow at him, to which he snickered before shrugging with a helpless smile. “Hey, we’re only here in _spirit_ and stuff, aren’t we? So you’re not here and I’m not here and we won’t get blown up! Just the magic thingy will!”

“Tearing our souls apart doesn’t seem like such a good plan, either,” replied the shrunken detective in a _duh_ sort of tone. “I have no experience in these - these stupidly illogical sorts of things, but I can surmise that pretty easily.”

Kaito cackled, tilting sideways before spinning around again. “Are you sure~?” he inquired, dragging out the syllable. “Maybe if we split our souls seven times, since seven is the magic number, we could be _immortals!”_

Inexplicably, Conan stiffened, eyes flashing. “No,” he spat - a single, clipped word, like lightning from his stormy expression.

Reorienting himself to the ‘correct’ direction, or at least so that he had the same up-down and left-right as the detective, Kaito straightened and let his joking demeanor melt away into relative neutrality. What had tantei-kun been thinking, to give him such a dark face…? “Tantei-kun?”

Silence, and then, “That’s what they’re after, right? Immortality. Well, what if…” Conan gestured to himself, to his tiny, de-aged body. “What if they _succeeded?”_

Oh. 

Kaito’s eyes widened. 

_Oh._ “Ah-”

That, of course, was the exact moment in which some well-meaning kind fellow and his friends discovered the two sleeping bodies in the old, dusty warehouse that had long since fallen into disuse. The group had been exploring it out of curiosity when they stumbled across the unconscious foreigners and took the time to crouch beside them and shake them awake.

Which was enough to snap the feeble remnants of power that held them under, and Kaito suddenly found himself back in reality, blinking at the stranger in his face as his senses slowly trickled back. The man was speaking, Kaito noted, lips moving and all, but the words escaped him and his ringing ears.

After a moment, however, the jumbled mess of incoherent noise settled into some form of a vaguely recognizable language. “- re yu - okay?”

Kaito blinked again, clearing the last of the haze. “You… Say what?”

“Are you okay,” the stranger repeated, looking worried. “And what are you and your little brother doing in a place like this, anyway?”

Turning his head, Kaito noticed that Conan was still looking a little dazed, which was probably why he hadn’t protested to being called a little brother. “Um. Yeah. Yeah, we’re fine.” He glanced back at the person and offered a bright smile. “And as for what we're doing, we were poking around, since we’re new to the area and all, but Conan-kun’s feet started to hurt after a while of walking around everywhere, so we took a break. Seems that we fell asleep, oops. Sorry.”

“Oh, alright then,” the guy said uncertainly. “We were wondering, is all.”

“Thanks for your concern, though,” Kaito continued, popping a flower into the stranger's hand. “And for waking us up. We might have gotten into some trouble otherwise.” In more than one way.

By now, Conan had shaken himself out of his confusion, and was staring at Kaito expectantly. 

The magician internally rolled his eyes as he stood up, brushing some dust off of his clothes. “We should get going, in any case,” he declared out loud. “Ne, Conan-kun, are you hungry?”

“Uh-huh.” Conan nodded meekly, still sitting on the ground and looking like a vaguely guilty child. He allowed Kaito to come over and pull him to his feet - _allowed_ , because Kaito knew he'd have broken his legs any other time - and kept clinging to the taller boy's sleeve. “Sorry,” he mumbled, edging shyly behind Kaito as he peered at the small group of strangers.

“No, no, you're fine,” one of the people soothed. “We were just a little worried. You're fine.”

“Oh, okay then.” Conan tugged Kaito's sleeve. “Kaito-niichan, can we go and get something to eat now?” he asked plaintively, obviously eager to leave the scary and dusty abandoned building - or so others would think. Kaito was pretty sure that he just didn't want to stick around with the other people, since they were strangers from this world and it was a bad idea to get close to them, and he was right. 

“Of course - our parents are probably worried, anyway.” In and out of context. Kaito waved at the group of people. “We'll be going now, it's been a short while since we last ate something that was substantial.” Actually, he realized, not since before the heist. Whoa. Make that a _long_ while. Sure the hospital had offered food, but Kaito didn’t do much more than pick at it, and Conan was probably the same. Poor kid was likely starving by now if all he had were a couple bites of crappy tasting hospital food. “Thanks again for waking us up, by the way.”

“No problem. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, there's a really good coffee shop and bakery not too far from here, if you'd like to try that out,” the lady added. “Just head towards the right once you exit here and keep going along the road.”

Kaito nodded. “We'll keep that in mind and look around for it,” he promised. “Catch you guys later.”

“Hopefully not,” Conan muttered, and Kaito pushed down the urge to give the stressed-looking kid a grin as he herded his apparent charge out the door.

Once they were alone - relatively, since a couple people and cars were still bustling here and there - on the street, Kaito glanced around before heading to the right. Conan let go of Kaito’s sleeve, but stayed close enough for the two of them to be easily passed off as siblings. 

“About the whole immortality thing being a success,” Kaito began in a deceptively casual tone, immediately setting Conan visibly on edge. “Are you sure about that?”

“For about a year now,” came the solemn response, “I haven’t grown a centimeter - unless I take an antidote, of course, in which case I grew several feet.” Conan chuckled drily. “My weight hasn’t changed, and neither has any sort of detectable chemical in my body. Recently, my parents dropped by, and my mom let slip that I still look more like I’m six than I do a seven year old.” As Hiro had mentioned, Kaito recalled. “I mean, I could still be killed” - a sour look crossed Conan’s face, a hand straying to his abdomen - “but I guess the Organization eventually did get what they were looking for.”

Kaito kept his gaze aimed forward, not at the somber speaker beside him, and his eyes softened. A couple of different responses flitted through his mind before he settled on a simple, “Science and magic, hm?” His lips curved into a small smile. “Well, nice to know that such a thing tends to work before we try it out ourselves.”

Conan snorted, but still looked bitter at the thought. 

Before either of them could do or say anything else, though, Conan’s stomach complained loudly about the lack of nourishment. Conan blinked at the sudden noise, and blushed scarlet as Kaito smirked at him, not bothering to hide his amusement at what Conan probably saw as an unnecessarily childish happening.

“That’s probably more likely the reason why you’re not growing,” Kaito chortled, grinning at the now red-faced miniature detective. “Have you tried drinking more milk? Calcium builds strong bones and other nutrients help you grow!” Actually, considering the size and build of the professor that Conan hung around and got his annoyingly handy gadgets from, such an idea was unlikely… But those were details. Kaito ignored them, instead relishing in the teasing.

“I know that, idiot,” Conan snapped back, looking embarrassed. “I eat healthily enough, it just slipped my mind this time because of what’s going on with this whole situation.”

“I bet this happens when you get your head stuck in a case, too,” Kaito mused mischievously. “Does your girlfriend have to shove your meals down your throat when you try to sacrifice time for eating to do work instead?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Conan hissed, quietly enough that nobody around would be wondering why a child would be insisting on such a thing. Kaito snickered. “Stop laughing, you idiot - I’ll get you back for later this with another soccer ball.” Conan huffed. “I owe you _several_ kicks, anyway.”

“Are you keeping track?” Kaito asked with mildly morbid curiosity.

“Of course I am. It’s just a mental tally and not all that hard to keep,” Conan responded, as if it were obvious.

“In that case, should I start running?”

“After we get food, then yes, you should.”

Kaito pouted. “So cruel, tantei-kun. Shouldn’t you _not_ bite the hands that feed you?”

“That sounded hilarious to you, I’m sure.” Conan sighed, rather suddenly looking more tired than a seven year old should ever be. “Let’s just go.” In a lower tone that Kaito could only barely pick up on, he continued to mutter something akin to, _‘Seems like I’m saying that a lot around you.’_

“You know that you love me,” Kaito joked, twining his fingers behind his head. He kept his eyes on their surroundings, scanning the area for anything that resembled a coffee shop or bakery - his stomach might not have voiced its displeasure with a loud growl quite yet, but he knew it would come soon.

A few more barbed words were exchanged in relatively decent spirits, time and distance sliding by for a moment, before the duo found their way around towards the aforementioned coffee shop.

“Looks like this is the place,” Kaito hummed, coming to a halt in front of one of the windows. He glanced at the building and the people occasionally trickling in or out before peering inside. “Kinda cozy-looking, isn't it?”

“Well, maybe,” Conan replied softly, tugging Kaito's sleeve towards the front door, ignoring the magician's quietly chuffing laughter. Strike starving, he must've been _ravenous_ to prefer getting closer to food over retorting to Kaito's comment. 

Quite abruptly, ten steps into the aroma of coffee in the shop, Conan stopped. Kaito stumbled as he tried to _not_ trip over the annoying little detective. 

“Kaito-niichan, did you bring money?” Conan asked, turning around to sent a sharp look at Kaito.

He winked in response. “Of course I did,” he said smoothly, taking the lead over to where he supposed they were to order at. The lady at the counter looked up as Kaito approached. “Hi, can I get a medium coffee and a medium hot chocolate? Black for the coffee.”

“Sure thing,” she replied, smiling. She probably thought the hot chocolate was for Kaito's little charge - yeah, right. Kaito and coffee didn't mix. For one, sugar made him hyper enough, and for another, coffee was terribly bitter. He didn't show any indication of this, though, as she continued, “Anything else?”

“Two of that, and that'll be all.” Kaito returned the smile kindly as he pointed at one of the types of bread on display. It had some seasoning and what looked like ham sandwiched in it. 

As she told him the price, Kaito withheld a sigh of relief and took a clump of bills from his jacket's inside pocket. He could feel Conan's glare digging into his back, but couldn't really explain in front of the lady who had quickly gotten the drinks and food together. She handed the items to Kaito, oblivious to Conan's death stare. Kaito tried not to cringe. 

“Have a good day,” she said as the duo wandered over to a table several paces away. 

“You too,” Kaito called back. 

“Thanks, neechan!” Conan added in a happy chirp, barely waiting until they were seated at the table to continue to Kaito in a muted hiss, “Where and how did you get that money?”

Kaito _could've_ just shrugged and infuriated him with a non-answer like _magic_ , but decided to take pity on the stressed detective. And magic was a bit of a sore subject, currently. He pushed the coffee cup towards Conan with one of the ham-bread-sandwich things, warming his hands around his hot chocolate.

“Before you start accusing, it's not stolen,” he assured. “People gave it to me. Honest.” Some trickery may have been involved, though... Well, all he did was ask the policeman with him if he could have some money for the vending machine, and once that guy left he asked an interviewer the same thing and then the reporter after them and then the nurse and the nurse after that and - yeah, rinse and repeat. 

Nothing illegal. Just appreciating the decency of humanity and everything. Besides, the money did end up being used for food, so it wasn't a complete lie. Deception, yeah, but not a full lie. Only a little delayed.

Conan gave him a look that simply oozed skepticism, but eventually took the ham-bread, muttered _itadakimasu_ , and bit into it gratefully. Kaito echoed him, eagerly digging in before his stomach decided to growl away what remained of Kid's dignity. He had a reputation to maintain, after all. Even if it wasn’t worth much, considering only Conan knew of it, and he didn’t care.

They ate in peace, relatively undisturbed - it was the calm time between late lunch and early dinner, so only a few people were around. The ham-bread was really good, and while Kaito contentedly sipped his warm and wonderfully chocolate-y drink, Conan visibly enjoyed the coffee. He probably hadn't had the drink in a while... Little boys didn't drink coffee, after all, and especially not black. More orange juice.

Kaito stifled his chuckle into the hot chocolate. 

Once they were finished with the meal, Kaito stood up and went to toss the trash away. More people were starting to come and go, so it was about time for them to take their leave as well.

Of course, such things are never simple in Kaito's life, especially when Conan was standing right beside him.

Stretching, Kaito was halfway through a comment of how nice of a meal that had been and how he wouldn’t be against visiting again for another meal, but then he ran into someone.

As he quickly backpedaled a step, Kaito blinked at the guy he'd run into - and repressed the urge to curse. 

Wasabi stared at him. “Aren't you - why aren’t you-?”

Kaito turned to Conan. “You're canceling out all of my luck,” he wailed, pretending to tear up as he mentally scrambled for an excuse. Conan kicked his shin mercilessly, sending the magician hopping back a couple feet.

The other people, Hiro's entourage in all its glory, entered the cafe and cheerfully greeted the lady at the counter before focusing on Kaito and Conan. Kaito only had a second to register a _balloon man thing_ that had apparently joined the group before one of the women - Gogo? - got in his face.

“Hi?” Kaito offered meekly - she looked _dangerous_ , like _Mouri Ran_ kind of dangerous - but she backed off after a moment of simple glaring as Hiro came to the front, still watching him carefully, and Kaito decided in the meantime that he didn’t really want to know whether or not that lady knew karate.

“I thought you guys were at the hospital!” Hiro exclaimed, entirely and reasonably confused. “How’d - _why_ are you out so quickly? Shouldn’t you be with the police or something and trying to get home?”

“Uh…” With no idea what else to do, Kaito waved his hand in a vaguely mystical motion, which may or may not have been inspired by some sort of series that he may or may not have stumbled upon while boredly exploring various sites along the internet. “These are not the people you are looking for,” he rumbled in a low tone, deepening his voice to something more like Nakamori's, albeit less audibly smoke-gruff. It wouldn’t do to imply that _he_ was smoking, after all. That probably didn’t even occur to the listeners, however.

Crickets chirped, and some brows lifted incredulously.

“...Tantei-kun, why isn't it working?” Kaito whined, whirling around to face the said boy. 

“You’re an _idiot,_ ” Conan enunciated clearly in reply.

“Tantei-kun!” Kaito put a hand to his heart, pretending to be offended and saddened. “My dear young child, how could you say such a terrible thing to a person who’s only ever helped you?”

When he received a pointed glare in return, however, Kaito quickly zipped his mouth up innocently, miming locking it up and throwing a key away, too, just to top it off. Conan didn’t buy the act at all, of course, but it was the thought that counted. Or the action, in this case.

“Anyway, aren't you guys supposed to be catching a plane out of here already?” Hiro cut in before they could pick up another topic and continue bantering. “I mean - there aren't any complications or anything, right?”

Kaito snorted. Complications? That was probably listed as the definition of his entire life. _Yeah, sure, of course there were no complications with hopping between dimensions, none at all..._ Except for the tiny, itsy bitsy issue of them losing the stupid rock that might've been the only thing able to get them back home. Very tiny issue.

Conan's face showed that he readily agreed to Kaito's thoughts, even if the miniature detective wasn't aware of those said thoughts. He’d probably smack himself over the head if he knew that they _were_ , in fact, apparently thinking on the same wavelength. A delightful image, had Kaito not been in need of those brain cells that Conan would likely kill with the impact of his forehead and palm.

Kaito’s odd train of thought must’ve been showing - or at least hinted at - on his face, if Conan’s wary glance was anything to go by. Just to be on the safe side, he shuttered everything down with an airtight poker face. 

“No, no complications,” Kaito replied to Hiro instead, somehow managing to keep the sarcasm tucked safely from his tone. _Thank_ you, poker face. “We just decided to linger a bit. Might as well enjoy the city while we’re here, right?” he beamed at Hiro, a carefree expression painted on his face. 

“Well, I guess so.” Hiro seemed a tad uncomfortable and more than just a little bit guilty, though. Kaito decided the young boy must have a complex like Conan likely did; blaming themselves for things that tended not to be in their power.

(And Conan called _him_ an idiot.)

“Hey, by the way, who’s the balloon robot man?” Kaito spoke up again, switching the subject. “Didn’t see him around before.” He waved at the said thing, which appeared to blink at him, tilting its head curiously, before waving back.

Perking up again, Hiro grinned and eagerly launched into an introduction of the said ‘balloon robot man’. Whose name was  Baymax. And who was originally made by Tadashi - that name was coming up rather frequently, actually. And saved Hiro in the portal but left most of his body there except for the one handy chip that contained his entire programming plus an arm, which explained the arm that Hiro had been holding when they first met. And who Hiro had spent the entire night working with his friends to rebuild.

And who had handy little scanners that could apparently _not_ detect aliens, because when Hiro mentioned the said scanners, Baymax very politely stated, “I’m afraid I cannot get a solid reading on you or the child beside you. Why do you only have a heat signature and heartbeat and detectable physical features, but no other internal readings?”

Conan opened his mouth and then closed it again. Kaito quite felt like mirroring him, but not even a slip of such a thought escaped his poker face, thankfully.

“We’re foreign and weird, let’s leave it at that,” Kaito replied drily, keeping all of his vague alarm at Baymax’s observation under wraps. “Please don’t scan us again. It’ll probably corrupt your data or something, somehow.” He sighed. “Honestly, we have the _worst_ luck, _all_ the time,” he lied. Conan was the one with the bad luck, and it mostly only applied to when it came to running across murders.

Hey, surviving a poisoning attempt that nobody else had been able to survive seemed pretty lucky to Kaito. Even if the resulting situation ended up being really anything but.

… Unluckily lucky, maybe? Hm. That seemed to fit better. Rather nicely, actually.

Probably not the time to be reflecting on that, however. Kaito refocused on the current situation. “Don’t worry, though,” he continued, attempting to reassure Hiro. “We’ll be heading back home soon anyway, so you won’t have to worry about a thing.” Hopefully. Frankly, _they_ had enough to worry about by themselves, without worrying about this world on top of that.

“Oh, but do you have someplace to sleep in the meantime?” Honey asked worriedly. “You two did get sucked here out of the blue, yes? So you have nothing but the clothes on your back.”

Which, in both Kaito’s and Conan’s cases, was actually a lot more than she probably thought. Still, touched by the thoughtfulness, Kaito graciously shook his head. “No worries, we’ll manage.”

“Hey, we’ve got some spare rooms or something back at Institute, I’m sure,” Wasabi mentioned.

“Or even a room here,” Hiro offered. “Since I’m going to be at the university most of the time, and Tadashi…” Sadness flickered across his face. Kaito eyed him carefully, wondering if it was what he lovingly referred to as _‘bird time’_. “Well, he…” Hiro faltered again, unwilling to think of his dead brother and bring back depressing memories.

Yeah. Bird time.

It wasn’t bad, though. Hiro had all the excuse in the world to be sad. Kaito was only all too familiar with the pain of losing a close family member, and he knew that no matter how much one could ‘get over it’, the thought of the missing person would ache until the end of time - or until you joined them. A morbid thought, and Kaito quickly banished it from mind. It did nothing to think back on such events, after all. Things happened whether you liked it or not, and the best you could do was learn to live with the ever-painful emptiness in your heart.

Or avenge it, in hopes of somehow filling up the gap or coping with it. Like Kaito was, now. And for Hiro, hopefully never.

With a soft click of his tongue and a rustle up his sleeve, Mayu-chan slipped free and fluttered in front of Hiro’s face, momentarily startling the boy before he smiled and held up a wrist, allowing the cooing dove to settle. Landing, she folded her wings looked around, curious to her new surroundings as Hiro tentatively touched her feathers.

“While we appreciate the offer,” Conan said from the side - on that thought, Kaito sent Shiro-chan over with a puff of smoke to annoy him, and the dove nestled in Conan’s lap calmly - as he turned his gaze away from Hiro and towards Kaito, “I think we have suitable shelter.”

“Yup, there’s no need to go through all that trouble for us,” Kaito assured, having a decent idea of what Conan was thinking. “We’re not exactly sure when the schedule for the flight is, since all the officers and stuff and still working on that, but it would be best to stick to that general area so it doesn’t take long to get there.”

Who knew when the portal might open up, after all. Conan would be right in being cautious and staying around the area.

Besides, even though the dreams were annoying as heck, they did offer the two stranded people a little taste of home and a possibility of making contact.

It wouldn’t do to give the group of six too much information, though. Having them come even close to figuring things out was not a very tempting thought. It was unlikely they’d come to the idea of aliens from another dimension, but anything that fell short could easily turn into an ugly situation; not something that anyone wanted to deal with.

So, Kaito just smiled at their acquaintances before bidding them goodbye and slipping out the door, Conan and doves in tow, before they could stop them.

* * *

 

When Conan expressed a need to just think, for a moment, Kaito was only too happy to allow him some alone time.

Not too alone, of course. Shiro-chan and Ami-chan, two of his loyal doves, were keeping a bird’s eye (or two) on him in case he got lost and couldn’t find his way back, or something - even if that possibility was highly unlikely. Conan hated being watched over, and could usually take pretty good care of himself.

‘Usually’ being the operative word, of course. And the exceptions tended to end up in something rather nasty. And somehow involve explosives or bullets, in one way or another. How delightful.

Well, in the meantime, Kaito wandered around until he located a park. Pigeons had gathered in a particular corner, where some kids had their parents purchase bird food from a nearby vendor to throw at the fat, feathered creatures. Unwilling to get tangled in such an event, considering the multitude of avians he already had concealed all over himself, Kaito instead sat on a bench and took a metaphorical page out of Conan’s book, pondering deeply for several minutes.

If Callaghan’s words were to be trusted, and they probably were, then just opening even one side of the portal would put the entire block in danger of being sucked in. So if Kaito and Conan managed to get the thing up and running in the first place, they’d have to find some way of closing the opening.

Akako mentioned that the barrier between words was weaker there, too, thanks to the portal’s opening. Maybe then it wouldn’t take as much energy to activate, and once it got running, it would eventually collapse on itself anyway from not enough power? Surely it wouldn’t take long to step into it. But if it didn’t collapse, and the lack of sufficient energy destabilized the portal further, though, then maybe the hole would just tear itself open wider.

Which would likely not be a good thing.

Well, they’d burn that bridge when they got to it, Kaito supposed. It was better to keep flexible in case of other options, anyway. Right now, all he needed was a boat and a map.

Boats shouldn’t be too hard to find; there was a huge bridge spanning a great expanse of water, and he was sure that tourists and such would want to see the sight. Wasn’t that bridge - or Kaito’s world’s equivalent of it - a major mark of San Francisco or something? So people would want to see the big thing in San Fransokyo up close. And if it was set over water, then there should be boats. Maybe. 

Perhaps it was a touch of a long shot, but oh well. He didn’t have much of a choice.

“Let’s see…” Kaito tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I can’t really be bothered to go looking for a hard copy, and most phones these days probably have a GPS installed, anyway. So they’re _more_ than likely to have them in this place, since it’s more technologically advanced than back home.”

So. Solution?

Steal a phone. Shouldn’t be too hard, considering it would be probably entirely unexpected. Besides, he’d return the thing afterwards, so no harm would be done.

Kaito was proved right about five minutes later, a slim smartphone sitting in his palm without anyone else being the wiser. The person he’d pickpocketed it from probably hadn’t even noticed the device’s absence yet, which was fine by him. Looking the mobile phone over, Kaito wasn’t too sure if the brands and companies were the same, but it looked pretty similar to the smartphones of his home dimension.

Still, the familiar four-digit numerical lock that lit up the screen was currently glaring at him, daring him to try getting past its security and get locked out instead. Rather smug for what he knew to be a pretty weak gatekeeper.

Ha. Kaito’s fingers moved swiftly, and he pressed in one of the more common passcodes.

Unfortunately, **0000** gave him nothing but a briefly vibrating phone. **1234** gave him the same.

**5555**? Nope. Hm. So this person certainly wasn’t entirely stupid. 

Still, that would amount to nothing in the face of Kaitou Kid. Nothing could keep him out of anything for long.

Kaito smirked and - movements tinged with a touch of Kid’s (quite reasonable, mind you) smug air - went straight down the numerical keypad; **2580**.

He was rewarded with an unlocked screen, to which a happy smile curved his lips. Murmuring a soft thanks to Lady Luck, Kaito scanned the screen for half a moment before selecting the icon with a map image on it. 

The GPS pinged pleasantly and chirped a quick series of notes as it started up, going straight to displaying a reasonable map of what Kaito guessed was this part of the city. After zooming out a couple times, Kaito studied the map with a critical eye, scrolling through the areas and committing them all to memory. 

So there _was_ an unused island nearby. Used to be some research place, it seemed - which made sense, and also made tantei-kun right once again. 

Hm. Well, there didn't seem to be a boat renting place or anything of that sort around the area within a reasonable radius, but when Kaito tapped on the coastline, an information box popped up and mentioned something about fishing and docks and harbors. Along with some other miscellaneous information, which Kaito briefly skimmed before disregarding.

So there were - or _probably_ would be - boats. If not for general public and tourist use, but probably various fishing ships or luxury cruise ships and the like. And it would be easy to blend in a lesser-used boat with any other privately owned little fishing boats, of course. Callaghan had to have a way to cross water at some point, and a small dock tucked in the shadows of a more popular harbor would be a pretty decent place to hide a somewhat-used boat. 

If Callaghan was smart, then he’d try to limit his visits as much as he could, after all. As well as conceal the boat in some manner. And the man who Kaito had observed in the jail cell was not an idiot; perhaps broken, perhaps despairing as he struggled to pick up the pieces of his shattered life, but definitely not _stupid_.

One more glance-over through the map, and Kaito nodded confidently and locked the phone.

Which didn’t make him any less jumpy when it suddenly vibrated in his hand, ringing a single note. Curiosity took over and he opened up the screen again. A new text, it seemed. Or - he thought wryly as the phone dinged again, and again, and _again_ \- more accurately, a series of texts.

**Hey, have you seen the news? on the site, they posted it just a couple hours ago!!  
They said the exhibition’s gonna be extended until the day after tomorrow or maybe longer  
You’re free tomorrow, right? so now we can go!  
I know you really wanted to see that one gem, whatever its name was… amethyst smth or another?**

The Kid part of him sat up and took notice at the word _‘gem’_ , and was wagging its tail eagerly by _‘amethyst’_. Suffice it to say that despite how much of an _upstanding citizen_ Kuroba Kaito was (no, Hakuba, not _Kid_. Just plain old regular Kuroba Kaito, or however close to regular Kaito ever was.), he had a hard time suppressing his urge to play just a couple of pranks on the local police. Just a few. Just to test their metal, to see how well they matched up in comparison to the Task Force.

It was such a pity that nobody in this dimension knew the amazingness that was Kaitou Kid, after all. He ought to correct that as soon as possible.

Well, tantei-kun would likely kill him, but hey. Kaito grinned, quickly unlocking the phone and going to an internet browsing app. _Can’t be stuck in a moping cloud of depression if you’re too busy chasing an idiot alien thief around, no?_

Unfortunately, Kaito only got so far through his plotting of the heist before Ami-chan dive-bombed him from the air out of nowhere, fluttering frantically as she trilled to get his attention.

Holding up an arm for the dove to rest on, Kaito clucked his tongue at her. She perched lightly on the offered forearm, trills dying down to a more contented series of coos. “What’s wrong, Ami-chan?” he asked, changing his tone to mimic that of a parent to a toddler. “Did the mean little tantei-kun chase you away?” The other dove seemed to still be with Conan, so… 

Ami-chan chirped, and Kaito smiled at her. Then with a whispered request, he released her into the sky.

And as she soared towards her fellow dove, Kaito followed her shadow from below.

Well, he did have to take a detour to the police station in order to drop off the ‘missing’ phone. After he cleaned off any traces of fingerprints, of course.

But as he weaved deftly through the growing evening crowd, keeping a careful eye on the dove flapping several yards overhead, Kaito had a distinct feeling that something was - off. Wrong. The tiniest sliver of dread trickling through his stomach, the kind of feeling that too often preceded a solemn quiet.

It didn’t help that he was seeing people speaking in more hushed whispers than regular soft voices. Hopefully, _hopefully_ he was just being paranoid (to be fair, he was rightfully so), but the way different pedestrians were clumping together and each group was edging carefully around the others in the rare occasion that they crossed paths… 

Of course, every single shred of hope that Kaito had managed to dredge up against the possibility of the worst case scenario was quickly dashed by a single phrase, caught by sharp ears off the mouths of a passerby’s careless hiss. 

“Hey, it was damn _creepy_ ,” the guy murmured to his friends as the group shifted along past an innocent-looking Kaito, who marginally quickened his pace to keep within earshot. “The poor dude’s eyes were still open and everything - just staring out at nothin’, you know? Probably is doing that, actually, wherever he is… Heh, d’you think he went up or down?”

“Don’t say things like that!” a lady scolded softly. “Show some respect.”

“Sorry, sorry - just, seeing that dead body on the ground totally freaked me out…” 

“I know what you mean; why are we headed towards it, anyway?” the other girl murmured, but by that point Kaito had dropped back, pure habit and an internal chant of _Poker Face_ keeping his feet moving along. _Dead._

_Dead body._ Kaito pressed his face into his hands. _Oh, no. Please no. I knew I should’ve stuck next to him…_

Just when things were starting to look up, too. And - as hope fluttered away, paper on a hurricane’s gale - Kaito lifted his eyes to the sky, where Ami-chan did not waver from her path - _towards_ the said body.

In other words… _Dammit, tantei-kun._  


	5. Chapter 5

The pensive walk had actually been pretty calming and incredibly soothing to Conan's high-strung nerves - at least, it  _had_  been, until someone shrieked and started screaming something about how  _'there's a dead body splattered on the street!'_  and  _'oh my gosh, call the police, I think I'm going to be sick-!'_  and, like usual, Conan found himself walking towards it.

Like a moth to a flame, he thought in exasperation as his feet brought him ever closer to the scene. Unfortunately, there was no Kogorou to slide in behind, so he was forced to observe from a more distant position, fearing the risk of being chased off from the scene by well-meaning bystanders and policemen.

There was also the little fact that there was currently a dove roosting comfortably on his left shoulder, cooing gentle chirps into his ear. No matter how well Conan knew the bird had been trained - Shiro-chan, he believed her name was; only this particular bird would be so comfortable with him, when the other had flown the coop moments after he'd noticed its presence - it would not be a good idea to let an animal fly about a crime scene. If only to protect her from the annoyance of the police, and to protect the police from the worry over a strange dove.

That wasn't even considering the fact that the two birds had been stalking him in the first place, on what he knew to be orders from a very troublesome gentlemanly magician thief. To whom Conan currently owed at least twenty-seven kicks.

Yes, of course he was keeping track. No, he didn't want to hear how petty it was of him to do so.

Speaking of whom.

"You've got to be kidding me. I don't think this is even startling anymore, it's just flat-out disturbing. And it couldn't be a death that even vaguely resembled 'normal', either - nope, the body just had to fall in from the sky, too. Really, tantei-kun? You had to keep this little habit of yours even in a different dimension?"

"Okay, no. You know very well it's not my fault, so shut  _up,_  Kuroba."

Conan had been almost -  _almost_  - startled when he had been suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by a hand clapping down on his unoccupied shoulder, but the recently familiar voice stopped him from automatically moving to dart the guy. He was pretty sure that Kid would be able to duck away from the tranquilizing needle easily, and it would've hit someone behind him instead, too, but that was beside the point.

Letting his attention drift back to the body lying on the ground, which was as dead as stone but much more bloody, Conan took a moment to look over the scene with a critical eye again, ignoring Kaito's continuous muttering about  _'murder magnets, I swear'_  and  _'stupid detective's luck, they're all the same, can't leave them alone for a single freaking minute'_  as he processed his thoughts. Turning a thoughtful gaze to the roof where the body had fallen from, Conan considered the building's structure, as well as the other features surrounding it. And he shook his head, a touch of horribly familiar foreboding coiling in the bit of his stomach.

"Too close," he murmured softly, interrupting the thief's muttered tirade. "It looks like it  _could_  have been a regular old suicide, plain and simple. The police even found a note and the pen it was used to write it with, and the fingerprints match, but there are a couple inconsistencies. Which means it's very possible that there was some foul play involved."

Kaito heaved a heavy sigh. "Can't you just leave it to the police?" he asked, almost plaintively.

Realizing that Kid's inclination towards nonviolence may have something to do with an aversion to death and dead bodies or such things in general, Conan glanced at Kaito, weighing his options. He couldn't just leave the scene, not after deducing it to possibly be a murder disguised as suicide. On the other hand, it wasn't fair of him to force Kaito to stay in a place that caused him discomfort.

"You can leave and look around elsewhere, if you want," Conan told him quietly. "Nobody's making you stay." For Kaito, anyway. Conan, on the other hand, had his morals and sheer habit tying him down.

_Habit._  It was ridiculous, solving murders through force of  _habit_. Violation of probability, he'd once said to himself, but there was nothing he could do, except roll with the punches. Do what he can. Like now.

He got an incredulous look from Kaito in return for his offer, though. "What, and end up leaving my little seven-year-old brother by himself at the scene of murder?" Scoffing, Kaito shook his head. "Sorry kid, but I'm not going to be acting out the role of  _that_  bad of an older brother."

Which was true. And Conan would likely be chased away without an apparent overseer, anyway. Birds did not count as a guardian. They'd only have him waved off even quicker, if anything. The detective bit his lip; to stay, or not to stay?

To sacrifice Kaito's comfort - which Conan really had no right to have any sort of say in - for the possibility of catching a murderer before it was too late, or to... What? Leave it in the debatably but probably capable hands of this world's police force? Turn his back and hope for the best?

Shooting another glance at the other teen, Conan wavered in indecision. The lack of any expression from Kaito's face was not helping in the least, and Conan found himself wishing that the magician would let down the mask just a little, just this once, just enough to see some emotion that would help him make a resolved choice. He caught himself, knowing that Kid's particularities at disguise included being able to conceal and fake emotions, and this current careful blankness was just as much a part of who Kaitou Kid was as the stupid fake glasses were a part of who Edogawa Conan was.

_Urg. Fine._  Conan refocused on the scene, ignoring the guilt that was twisting through his veins like a chilled, deep-set poison, cold and heavy in his blood. He'd tuck it away, and deal with it another day.  _He's the Kaitou Kid, he can take care of himself. Focus on the case._

This murder took priority, for now. Get rid of the murderer, and  _then_  Conan would coddle his bruised morals - but no sooner. Other things, like the livelihood of other people, took precedence.

He specifically did not think about how much guilt he was harboring in this fashion. Putting it off for some vague later time that was always beyond the horizon was something he was far too familiar with. He wasn't stupid, of course, and knew it was unhealthy, knew it was gradually building up and weighing him down, but there was never any time to deal with it properly. And certainly that time was not now, not with the possibility of a murderer attempting to give the police the slip.

Instead, Conan spoke quietly, offering up what reprieve he could; "We don't need to get any closer, but as long as we hang around the area, and I have my glasses back, that's all I need." Especially the glasses. The telescopic and eavesdropping functions would be a massive help in gathering details that he'd be unable to obtain otherwise.

"Sure. Take all the time that you want," came Kaito's flippant response as he easily slid the glasses off his face and pressed them into Conan's hand, casually careless and indifferent - and yet the slow, soundless,  _emotionless_  breath that he took right afterwards whispered otherwise, hinting at perfectly concealed emotion. And the only feeling that Kid would feel the need to hide so carefully would be his own discomfort.

Wondering when he'd been able to pick up on such things from the once utterly unreadable phantom thief, Conan pretended not to notice what he did, and he was pretty sure that Kaito was pretending not to notice that he was pretending not to notice, but Conan pretended not to notice that, either.

_What a pair we make._  Pushing that unwelcome little train of thought away (in the same corner where endless guilt waited to be released in some far off day), Conan took a deep breath. First things first. He couldn't get in close to the body, but he could easily overhear the words of the police, who monotonously listed the facts off to each other as they tried to decide what exactly happened in this apparent suicide.

Thus, with some careful toeing around and quite a bit of creative eavesdropping, Conan managed to scrape together the bare bones of the case with just enough additional information to be able to piece together the rest of the tragedy, given a few minutes.

It was through that in which he found that his fears had been confirmed.

* * *

Kaito sat on a nearby bench while Conan brainstormed through the hour, eyes fixed onto the dove perched on his arm, which Conan assumed was the one that he'd managed to scare off from earlier. As the detective wandered back to the other teen's side, indigo eyes flicked up to meet his own. They regarded each other for a moment, considering.

"So, did you figure it out?" Kaito asked neutrally, lavishing the bird with most of his attention. Shiro had remained with Conan in the meantime, and she had been - useful, to put it bluntly. Kaito had obviously been thinking of the same thing as he continued, "You know, usually  _I'm_  the one putting eavesdropping devices on my birds and sending them after people to listen in for information, not the detectives who are supposed to be being bugged by them. I hope you actually ended up getting something done while you sabotaged my poor dove."

"It's not like she minded," Conan countered - he'd managed to gather a little more vital information that way, too, and the bird was apparently all too used to this sort of thing - and Kaito shrugged.

"I didn't say she did. Horribly enough, I'm terribly not surprised by this turn of events. She likes detectives a lot, for being one of mine," he remarked. "Or maybe it's just you, since you've helped her out before. She didn't seem to have any sort of inclination towards the half-Brit, she pecked and annoyed him just like all the others did when I asked them to."

The 'half-Brit'?  _Hakuba_ , Conan inferred, since the fair-haired other  _koukousei tantei_  was the only half-British detective who also chased after Kid, as far as Conan knew. They had been in close enough proximity for long enough that Kaito could have somehow decided to test out siccing his birds on him at some place or another? Almost empathetically, Conan suddenly felt a surge of pity for the other detective.

"Were you predicting something like this to happen?" Conan asked, mentally sidestepping the odd thought and letting it pass by. He had too much to worry about getting home from here than to think about the possible existence of troubles for a particular detective back home.

"Predicting what?" came the returned question. "You hijacking and brainwashing poor Shiro-chan?"

Conan decided that he now owed the thief twenty- _eight_  kicks as he replied, "No, I meant the case." A vague gesture at the murder scene conveyed his meaning. "Is that why you sent the doves?"

Kaito raised an incredulous brow at him. "Firstly, I think we've discussed the topic of your luck with these sorts of things, or the lack thereof. Or maybe I was just thinking it. Either way, the point remains; you, dear tantei-kun, have an uncanny ability to stumble across these cases, or maybe they have an uncanny ability of stumbling across you."

"I'm  _not_  cursed," Conan stressed, and the magician rolled his eyes, which made him huff indignantly. "There's no such thing, anyway." Or there hadn't, at least, until his recent discovery of the existence of magic. Now, anything goes. Dammit.

He was going to have to bleach his brain when he got home, and hopefully purge the idea of magic from his head.

On second thought, that wouldn't help. No, instead, he'd have to do a lot of researching and hunting down exactly what was truth and what was fiction. Magic as a whole was a whole new topic to take into consideration, like he didn't have enough things to deal with already, in the form of overly complex murder schemes and deceitful people in black.

"Sure you're not cursed," Kaito agreed all too smoothly, which very easily translated into a sarcastic  _'Yeah, right.'_  He paused for the briefest of moments as Conan glared before continuing, "Well, if you really must know, I was barely thinking of that aside for that hoping no such thing would happen. Of course, that was apparently vain hope, because here we are. Shiro-chan and Ami-chan were just making sure you didn't get yourself lost, or into any trouble. Should've known that trouble would find you anyhow," he added, shaking his head.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Conan responded dryly, knowing he wouldn't get much more out of the thief. "As for getting lost, I have only one word to give you: maps."

"Too troublesome." Wrinkling his nose, Kaito turned back to the bird on his arm. "Oh, and speaking of which, I found out where the island is via a handy smartphone's GPS, plus a possible method of getting there, so we can start heading there whenever."  _'Whenever you're done with this stupid case,'_  went unsaid, but Conan heard it all the same.

Satisfied - for now, anyway - Conan switched his attention to the scene that was currently still being examined and roped off, although most of the initial morbid curiosity that had drawn pedestrians around had worn off by now. While it did mean that he and Kaito had started to stand out, if the magician's birds hadn't done that already, it also meant that Conan could have a little better range of sight around where the body had fallen. Plus, less miscellaneous gossiping murmurs blocked out what he needed to hear. Nonetheless, Conan had to be watchful for prying eyes or ears, but he had a feeling that Kaito was watching out for him on that front, too.

From what he'd overheard so far, the police were still on the line as to whether or not it was a murder. The victim, who bystanders and officers alike called 'Professor Gibson', was said to have led a relatively contented life. He had a wife and one child in the tenth grade, both of whom broke down in tears upon arrival, which was forty minutes after Kaito's arrival.

The sloppily-written suicide note that had been found on the roof said something about guilt over previous involvement in different jobs that hadn't been entirely safe for all the people in proximity. Reasonable enough - except Gibson's wife wailed that he'd gotten over all of that long ago, and had been thoroughly enjoying his current job, working to undo the damage he'd unintentionally inflicted, and he sucked at hiding things from her so she knew it  _couldn't_  have been that.

In an even more obvious discrepancy, someone pointed out that Gibson was left-handed, but for some reason the pen that had his fingerprints on it was lying to the right of the note, and had his  _right_  hand's fingerprints on it. So he'd either gone crazy in his last moments and decided to randomly switch hands, or someone forged the note but didn't do their research properly. The latter was much more likely.

It would take some more time to find out if he'd been drugged or killed before taking the fall, considering how the impact pretty much ruined and concealed a lot of information that could've been more easily detected otherwise.

And in the stairwell leading up to the roof, there were hints at a second person going up with Gibson, if the imprints in the light layer of dust were to be trusted. Except everyone wore the same regulated shoes, and none contained any traces of dust. The culprit probably washed or rubbed it off when he or she noticed it, so that lead led to a dead end.

Great. Now what?

Well, if the police could put together what Conan had, then things would be wrapped up in a snap.

At least they were intelligent enough to keep the three most likely suspects - the three who had no alibi for the estimated time of, er,  _impact_  - around, just in case it did end up being a murder. Frustratingly enough, all three had proper motives for the murder, too. For now, the police were keeping them around under the guise of helping the officers look through the building for any other bits and bobs of information. It was a chemical laboratory storage supplier thing, after all, and it wouldn't do to accidentally blow the entire thing to smithereens because they didn't know what they were touching, right? Apparently, such a thing had very nearly happened before due to clumsiness and an untied shoe, which was why everyone working there had been assigned regulated laceless shoes.

So the woman and two men trailed indoors to help poke around, not entirely oblivious to the act that the police were showing, but playing along with it for now, knowing that the reasoning behind it was logical enough to be plausible. Besides, they probably knew that if they pushed back too hard, they became even more suspicious, too.

Their cooperation was a relieving sight, but it didn't ease Conan's frustration. It wasn't like a seven-year-old would just be allowed to waltz on over and present deductions to them like Kudou Shinichi or even Sleeping Kogorou usually did. And even using a puppet to speak through, like creating a temporary substitute Sleeping Kogorou, would be too suspicious and all-around too dangerous for Conan's liking.

Really, he could only come up with one solution to this cluster of problems, and it relied so much on human decency that on the off chance that he was wrong and the murderer was in fact an unreasonable psychotic killer who ruined lives for the fun of it, Conan would be utterly screwed.

Ha. In that case, it was a good thing that he had Kaitou Kid carefully watching his back, then.

Speaking of whom - "Kaito, I need to get inside," Conan hissed urgently, turning his attention back to the magician. It didn't seem like the suspects would be heading back out of the building anytime soon, so he had to go to them. Quickly. "The sooner the better, and once I'm done there we can pack up and leave," he added with a swift promise.

Kaito made a noise that sounded like it could've been anything  _except_  an agreement.

"You don't even have to go any closer, if you don't want to," Conan offered, already bracing himself on the balls of his feet. While it would be nice to have the backup, "I don't need another person to come along with me."

"I'm supposed to be watching over you," came the responding drawl, paired with a single raised brow. "And I hope you realize that I do in fact know that there is a probable murderer inside of that building you want to get in. I don't think I'd be a very good overwatcher if I let you stroll into that place on your own, where a murderous person is probably lurking."

Trying not to complain that Kaito was taking his disguise too seriously, since that had probably saved his life several times in the past, Conan protested, "I can take care of myself." He tapped his watch pointedly, and dug the toe of one of his shoes into the ground. Pretending not to see Kaito's annoyed grimace at his shoe - it was such a  _wonderful_  thing to hold over the idiot thief's head - and plunging on, Conan continued, "All I need is a tiny distraction. Just one little thing to turn their heads away, that's it."

Kaito hesitated. Then, slowly, "If you get hurt, I'm going to pin the blame on your larger self and tell as much to Mouri-san, and then  _you'll_  have to deal with her anger the next time you see her, got it?"

"Fine, sure, whatever." Conan tried not to roll his eyes in exasperation, and the only reason he succeeded in holding back the movement was the image of Ran pounding his head in. She was a scary lady, to say the least, and the threat had the effect that Kaito had probably been aiming for. "Duly noted."

"Well then, your heart's desire is my command," Kaito said sarcastically. "And so you have wished it, so shall it be." He glanced at Conan out of the corner of an eye, and a smirk edged its way onto his lips. "By the way, don't ask why I have this set up, because you don't want to know," he added cheerfully, snapping his fingers as he spoke. "And don't panic - well, you can pretend, but please don't actually panic."

Conan had half a moment for alarm to whisper through his head, because those kinds of smirks never meant anything good and always led up to some sort of humiliation, before the next bench over suddenly shuddered with a sharp, ear-catching  _pop!_  and started to hiss, with black stage smoke smoke erupting all around it. More crackling noises snapped out from that general cloud of smoke, and soon the bench was too covered in smoke to be visible anymore. Despite himself Conan was vaguely impressed at how it did resemble a real explosion.

Except without the flames or danger, of course, and with some additional firecracker sounds added in generously. After all, the goal was to draw attention, and that was exactly what Conan had needed.

Only the slightest flickers of a smug smile could be seen on Kaito's face before it was swamped with horror. Jumping out of his seat, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before stumbling backwards a few paces, doing a wonderful job of pretending to be a scared witless sideline witness.

Someone screamed, and policemen all paid the distraction their undivided attention, with the exception of shouting into their radios and at each other.

Perfect.

Spinning on his heel, feeling both thankful and maybe a tiny bit apologetic, Conan slipped into the chaos.

* * *

It didn't take long to sneak his way into the lab while everyone scrambled around in panic.

Quickly, he found a corridor to wander down. Of course, Conan watched himself with extreme care as he walked, making sure that there was nothing that he could accidentally mess up and cause an unwanted reaction.

An unwanted  _chemical_  reaction, that was. Sure, he doubted that the scientists working here would be stupid enough to leave something dangerous out in the open halls, but you never knew. The best option was to be careful anyway, since letting his guard down at all had never been a good idea.

As for human reactions, Conan couldn't care less as long as he actually received one or more. Turning down another empty hall, he wondered where the suspects and policemen had gone to. Maybe they were looking through another floor? All Conan had been doing so far was aimless walking and trying to look as lost and miserable as possible. He hadn't seen any stairs yet, but he'd seen other floors from the outside, and he was sure to come across a flight or so eventually. Until then, he poked and prodded around curiously, peering into different rooms.

He never stopped pretending to be the kid that he wasn't, though. Besides, security cameras were located all over the place. He'd actually managed to avoid them all on the way in, hid himself in a room for a minute, and then purposefully stumbled back out into the security cameras' range, all the while looking like an utterly befuddled kid who'd just woken up.

He'd meant to get the attention of  _someone_ , but the laboratory seemed pretty empty. He wasn't even confronted by anyone who should've at least seen him in the security feed, for some reason.

Actually, they'd probably scrammed when the murder occurred, all rushing to clear the area before the police locked everything down. Selfish - but human. And being human was something he could process, even if he didn't like it.

Conan had no illusions that the world was anything but bleak; the simple fact that the Black Organization existed was enough to demolish what little faith in the good of the world he had left. He didn't have much before, thanks to a constant stream of running into the worst that humankind had to offer, but once he'd been shrunk and survived a murder attempt by ruthless assassins, all pretenses slipped away, shriveled up, and  _died_. Horribly.

It was strange, to expect a murderer in every stranger he encountered. Maybe his dad had once done the same, and maybe still did, if the way he avoided media attention was any indication, but that man was much more skilled at concealing feelings behind a mask than Shinichi was, so he wasn't sure. He did know, however, that Heiji was a kindred spirit in this aspect - as brash and forward and protective of life as the Osakan detective was, he tripped over just as many bodies on a regular basis as Shinichi did, and had started preempting the incidents by observing constantly, like Shinichi.

That was their method of defense against the evils they worked against. Refusing to believe that the world was fair, because doing so was, in fact, unfair. Bad things happened to good people, and good things happened to bad people. Who would call that fair? Shinichi's job was to minimize the undeserved bad and good things as much as possible, but it wasn't like he deceived himself into thinking that he'd make a big enough impact to erase injustice completely. Or that he'd ever be able to.

For a moment, he caught himself wondering if Kaito had the same experience.

Then, Conan snapped out of his thoughts, shaking away the darker murmurings of his obviously too-idle mind.

Fortunately, his attention snagged onto something else before he could fall back into that pattern of thoughts again. More specifically, his eye was caught by the promising sight of stairs, so he put his mind to scrambling up the dully colored steps instead, making sure he didn't trip himself.

That wasn't to say that stairs were very mind-occupying, though.

Actually, it was something more of the opposite. But he managed. He always did.

Conan dashed up towards the next floor, feet scuffing quietly on the stairs. With what he hoped was enough discretion to not come off as a creepy kid, he glanced at one of the security cameras located within the corners of the twisting stairwell. Would someone notice him  _now_ , or would they continue to ignore him?

The speakers on the ceiling - what Conan guessed was for an intercom or something similar - stayed silent, though, so Conan gave up on the security guard front and moved on. It wasn't his job to worry about, for now. If their security sucked, then it sucked to be them, and he would have nothing further to deal with it.

He had far better things that he should be doing, like investigating the whispers of sound and hushed conversations coming from further down the hallway.

Ears perked and interest snared, Conan tentatively crept closer towards the sounds. As he approached, he made out several pairs of quiet footsteps and some low muttering. It took a moment to pick out the words, but the tone easily came off as annoyed, with someone else placating them.

A realization struck him, making him backtrack several paces as he mentally recentered himself into being a shy, confused child. He didn't need to  _try_  to figure out whether the voices were getting closer or not, because they most definitely were headed directly towards him. His metaphorical mask had only just been slipped on and secured in place before the voices started coming dangerously close to his position.

Holding his breath, he began to count.

_Three._

"...don't see why this is necessary, we already checked this hallway and all the rooms here!"

_Two._

"Come on, Mandrin, be patient. They're just trying to make sure that they don't miss anything. I'm sure we'll be done soon, and then we can go home. It shouldn't be much longer now. Right, Nova?"

_One - !_

"I just wish they'd hurry," someone was replying, and just before they turned the corner, Conan dropped limply onto his hands and knees with a deliberate thud. An audible whimper left his lips, and he kept his eyes on the ground as the people finally saw him.

Seriously; he was  _trying_  to be seen, for once, and they hadn't even noticed him for a long while. Where was this sort of luck when he was trying  _not_  to be seen?

Their gasps of surprise were music to Conan's ears, but he squashed the urge to sigh in relief, peering pitifully up at them instead. His eyes stretched wide with innocence behind his glasses, and he hesitantly sat back on his calves.

"Excuse me?" he asked meekly. "Um, I-I'm kinda lost... Do you know where my mommy is?"

"What's a kid doing here?" one of the suspects muttered, only to get an elbow in the side from another of the suspects.

"Oh, are you okay?" the third suspect cooed, bending over to help Conan to his feet. She brushed some nonexistent dust from his clothes. "You know, you're not supposed to be here, little boy."

Conan sniffled convincingly as he rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry!" he cried, tugging on the lady's sleeves. "My mommy told me to wait in one of the rooms, she said she was supposed to pick something up and she'll be right back, but I fell asleep and I - I don't know where she is! I went to look for her, I know she told me to stay in that room but I got scared, so I went to look for her, but then I got lost, so I started running, and then I just tripped! I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," she soothed, pulling him into a hug. Inwardly, Conan tried not to stiffen and cringe at the contact, and he tucked his face into her shoulder to hide any traces of those feelings.

He most certainly was  _not_  paranoid. Just very careful. And strangers touching him had always made him feel on edge.

Ever since  _that_  day, at least. Stupid Black Organization ruined everything.

And just because he could maybe be classified as paranoid didn't mean that they weren't actually after him, because they most certainly were.

Or he was after them, more accurately, since they thought he was dead, but that was a whole different can of worms.

"Hey, kid, what's your name?" one of the other suspects asked, and Conan turned teary eyes to him.

"C-Kuroshi," he stuttered, reluctant to offer his real -  _fake, actually; real fake?_  - name to them. The less trackable he was, the better, especially since Hiro's group of friends had long since learned his name as Edogawa Conan. And since he had no book to read a name off, this time, he added hastily, "Kudou Kuroshi."

"Nice to meet you, Kuroshi." The lady offered him a kind smile. "I'm Nova. This is Otto and Madrin."

Otto gave a brief wave and a grin while Madrin simply blinked at Conan.

"Hello," Conan offered shyly, still clutching at Nova's sleeve. Inwardly, he assessed the group before him carefully. The three professors were accompanied by a diligent-looking police officer, who came over to him and crouched so that he was looking the smaller detective at eye level. However, he addressed Nova when he spoke.

"I'll contact the others outside so they can start looking for his mother, and maybe someone else to come pick him up and bring him outside," the officer suggested, and Nova nodded in agreement. Before he could take out his walkie talkie, though, Conan lunged forward and latched onto  _his_  arm.

"Please don't make me go by myself with a stranger," he cried plaintively, knowing that if he was forced to leave before he had a chance to do what he wanted, then everything he'd just spent time doing wouldn't amount to nothing. And that would suck, honestly, because then he'd have to do it all over again.

Nova hesitated, but eventually caved to Conan's practiced puppy-dog eyes. She sighed, and then asked the officer, "Would it be alright if he just tags along with us while we check the area for now? We're just about finished anyway, and you can ask the other police outside to start looking for his mom in the meantime. Better than having someone else spend time watching him."

Honestly, the way they were talking over Conan's head like he wasn't even there while they discussed things about him was so  _aggravating,_  but he'd unfortunately long since gotten used to it. The downsides to being on the shorter side of things never ceased, it seemed.

"Her name's Hato," Conan volunteered before the conversation could continue. "Thank you for looking for her while I stay with you!" he added, even though the officer hadn't yet said anything in agreement. Now the policeman had little choice but to follow along, or risk having a whiny child on his case. It only took a moment for the guy to decide on taking the route that would result in less headaches for all of them, Conan included. Not that they knew that part.

"You're very welcome, kid," the man said, patting Conan's hair awkwardly before straightening. He muttered lowly into his radio, while Conan retreated to Nova's side.

"Ne," he stage-whispered conspicuously to the lady, tapping her arm to get her attention. "What's a policeman doing here anyway? Is he always here?"

Nova smiled sadly at him, and crouched to his level as she explained, "There was a - an accident. Maybe. We're just the unlucky ones who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, so the nice policemen are just making sure that nothing went too wrong. Then, we can go home, and help you get home, see?"

Conan ruthlessly stifled the urge to groan at her baby-speak. "Okay then!" he chirped.

"There's seriously no reason for this," Madrin muttered bitterly, obviously disgruntled by the whole procedure. "Anyway, come on, let's get the rest of this thing over with."

Cocking his head to the side, Conan innocently cast a wide-eyed gaze at the man, but cringed back when he was countered with a fierce glare. He tightened his grip on Nova's wrist as they started to move through the hall again, heading for the next room.

He waited for the man to enter the room with the policeman, leaving the other two outside, though the officer still kept all three within his range of sight. "Ne, ne, what's his problem?" Conan asked Nova, pouting.

With something of a wince, Nova murmured, "Madrin… He's just like that," which wasn't much of an answer.

It was Otto who rolled his shoulders, a slight frown on his face, and told Conan, quietly, "Gibson had always been - he was always at the top of everything science. He kinda sucked at everything else, including social things, but… Well, science had always been his passion, and he did really well at it, too. Madrin often gets upset over the fact that Gibson keeps getting positions of leadership even though he's a better leader. So he kinda has a motive for the murder."

"Oh," Conan said quietly, even as Nova scolded Otto for telling such things to a child. "Then, what about-?"

He was cut short by the officer walking out of the room with Madrin, who locked the door before leading the group onward. When they reached the next part, with Madrin again going in with the officer to search the area, Conan continued to question Otto. The cycle repeated a few times, although sometimes Nova or Otto were the ones to guide the officer around the room, during which Conan kept his mouth shut.

Very quickly, though, he came to the realization that Madrin was the murderer he was looking for.

Now, how to go about revealing that little fact? A substitute Sleeping Kogorou was out of the question, particularly because there simply was no evidence.

Conan suspected that Madrin simply brought Gibson to the roof under the pretense of getting some fresh air, distracted him with chemistry babble, and just shoved him off. Maybe he drugged him with some sleeping pills to make sure he was woozy and quiet on the way down, too. What evidence was there to be found?

_Murderers always leave tracks,_  he told himself, but a little container of sleeping pills would only be too easy to hide or dispose of in such a large laboratory that stored countless chemicals.

It would take too long, and he'd be too suspicious. So he was back to Plan A: Human Decency.

Very possibly, it was the absolute stupidest plan he could ever think of, but he had no other choice.

Thankfully, separating from the group only took some specific timing, frantic dancing around, and high-pitched shrieks of  _'I need to use the restroom!'_  and  _'nooo, only boys in the boys restroom!'_  Careful timing ensured that Otto was the one in the room, so Madrin grudgingly went to guide Conan to the restroom, since he claimed that he  _'can't wait anymore, officer-san is too slow, he can catch up later, let's go let's go let's go!'_

However, when Conan pranced into the stall with all the anxiety of a little boy who  _really_  needed to go, he calmed the moment the door's latch clicked shut. Glancing back, he took a deep breath.

"Ne, Madrin-san," Conan began, putting down the cover of the toilet seat and sitting on it, praying to whatever higher power who might be listening that this plan would work, "You know, I think... I think that you should 'fess up to the murder."

Deafening silence echoed from the other side of the door. Conan kicked his legs, waiting worriedly with metaphorical fingers crossed. He took out his phone and opened up an app, before putting it back in his pocket.

"You don't know what you're talking about, boy," came the response in a thinly veiled snarl.

"I do," Conan said calmly, the childishness of his voice sliding away. "Madrin-san, you drugged Gibson-san to make him drowsy - not enough to make him fall asleep, but enough that he wasn't thinking straight - and when he showed signs of weariness, you offered to take him to the roof for some fresh air. Nobody else saw; today's a day off, so there was hardly anyone there anyway. And once you got to the roof, all you had to do was distract him a bit, push him off, and scram."

Something slammed against the door, causing it to shudder, but Conan refused to jump, only narrowing his eyes in response. He stilled his legs, though, and touched his watch.

"Who are you to say such a thing?" Madrin asked eventually, his voice shaking with barely restrained fury.

Biting back the automatic  _'Edogawa Conan, tantei sa'_  that nearly slipped out, Conan replied, "Kudou Kuroshi. Who else?" He shrugged, even though Madrin couldn't see him. "Well, I'm also a detective," he added.

Madrin moved, the shadow of his feet flickering beyond the crack under the door. "Well then, little detective, where's your evidence?"

"The roof's taped off by now," Conan acknowledged. "But how long do you think it'll take for the policemen to realize that they can focus less on the route headed up towards the roof and perhaps more on the body itself?" He leaned back, casting his gaze towards the ceiling. "You were probably pretty preoccupied with hauling the victim up the stairs - would you have noticed if you left a fingerprint or a hair on the body before you pushed him over?"

Silence. Then, as Conan held his breath, Madrin released his in a shaky exhale. "Come out already," he said, voice dull and lacking inflection. "We have to get back to the others. I'll talk to them."

"Okay," Conan replied, and flushed the toilet for the sake of keeping up appearances, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't fooling Madrin in the least.

He turned the lock and opened the restroom door - tense, bracing himself for an attack - but Madrin simply started walking away without so much as a glance over his shoulder. Shoulders hunched somewhat, as if weight was pressing down upon him. Guilt, maybe, or simply arguing with himself over what to do.

Conan sighed, pushing the stall door closed as he headed after the man, hoping he wouldn't change his mind in the short time it would take to walk back to the group.

He didn't get two steps forward before Madrin whirled back on him, hands reaching out - fingers wrapped around his neck, and  _squeezed._

Choking instantly, one of Conan's hands scrabbled at Madrin's wrist while the other dropped, fumbling against his hip for a moment before it pressed a button through the fabric of his pocket. As soon as it clicked, Conan renewed his efforts at trying to tear himself away, but the other's grip was too strong.

He tried to scream, to draw attention, but there was no air left in his lungs, and he only hacked up silent coughs. Something colder than adrenaline and heavier than dread slithered through his body.

Madrin leaned in. "You're a clever boy, figuring out that I was the murderer, I'll give you that," he proclaimed, watching the smaller boy  _writhe_  in his too-tight grip. "But nobody's going to believe you, and nobody's going to know." He grinned, a dark look that instinctively sent shivers up Conan's spine, even as he struggled. "It could be an outsider, after all, who decided to hide out in the bathrooms. He attacked both of us when we came in, and you, in the chaos and being the child you are, misunderstood the situation and took  _me_  as the attacker."

As the words echoed in Conan's ears, he stubbornly fought against the fogginess that threatened to descend upon his brain, glaring fiercely through the spots in his eyes. The edges of his vision crumbled into blackness like paper curling into ashes, but his focus persisted.

But he'd heard all he needed to. Gotten Madrin to say all he needed him to say.

Arm shaking, Conan braced one hand against the other's wrist, flicking up the cover of his watch. All it would take was a moment. Madrin was unsuspecting, ignorant. Just a second, and…

The door slammed open, someone shouting into the room. Conan froze at the intruder, briefly startled and unsure, which cost him his chance; Madrin threw him against the wall and rushed at the person before he could be tranquilized.

Something cracked at the impact of his spine and head against the wall, red flashing across his sight like frantic lightning. Moaning, Conan curled into himself and protectively clutched at his throat.

He'd waited too long. Everything spun around dizzily, and his body ached from the impact. He was  _pretty_ sure that the newcomer was the officer from before, but he wasn't  _entirely_  sure, since his eyes seemed to have stopped working.

It took a while for his vision to stop flickering, by which point Madrin was being handcuffed and shoved to a second officer -  _since when were there two?_  Conan wondered hazily - while the first one crouched beside Conan, gently running a hand over his shoulder.

And then darkness swept his eyes closed, guided by a red-tinged diamond.

* * *

When Conan woke up, it was in an oddly familiar situation.

Warmth across his front meant he was pressing against someone. Little movements up and down meant the someone was walking. His own lack of movement meant that he was not independently doing the moving. Put together, that meant that someone was carrying him.

He blinked open his eyes, taking much longer than usual to take in the shirt in front of him.

"If you're awake, tantei-kun, I have something I need to scold you over."

"Don't…" Conan coughed, clearing his throat before trying again. He winced as pain lashed out for a moment, before subsiding enough that he could speak. "Don't bother. I'm fine." Sighing, he added, "Put me down."

Kaito stopped and did just that, bending slightly to set him on the ground. Quickly finding his balance, Conan took a few steps to make sure he was steady on his feet before turning to face Kaito, who had a disapproving face on. "I was listening in, you know," the thief said. "Bugged you and everything. You should be glad I did, so I could slide in and take you 'home' as 'Hato', though I did have to borrow a dress."

Conan eyed the boy's current choice of attire. "You put it back where you found it, I assume?"

"Of course," Kaito confirmed with a roll of his eyes. "But that's not my point."

"There  _is_  no point," Conan insisted, and reached for his phone. He quickly unlocked it and went to the saved recordings, relieved to find that he still had a copy of the confession that Madrin had admitted to while he'd been choking the breath out of Conan. "The case, did they arrest him?" he asked, and Kaito nodded.

"Going to email them the recording, I see," Kaito noted, to the smaller detective's nod of confirmation. "Do I want to know why you have their email?"

"I wormed out Nova's email while we were in there," he explained.

"Hm. That must've happened while I was talking to one of the officers about you while I posed as your 'mom'," Kaito mused. "I wasn't sure if his walkie-talkie would pick up anything weird or not, since this world's technology is has some difference from our own, so I turned it off for a while."

A moment later, Conan squawked as Kaito pushed his head down. "Hey! I'm safe, aren't I? And the culprit got arrested." He shoved Kaito's hand away. "All's well that ends well," he quipped.

"Just don't do that again," Kaito huffed in annoyance. Conan rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, where are we?" he asked, glancing around. It was getting dark, but for some reason people weren't retreating to their homes and leaving the roads as empty as they were the night before. Rather, the opposite was happening - it seemed more people were up and about, buzzing about some topic or another.

Kaito suddenly  _grinned_. "There was an interesting announcement a while ago," he said far too cheerfully, and before Conan could say anything in return, a phone's screen was shoved into his face.

There was a picture of some museum that had been repurposed - and Conan just felt his inner self  _groan_  - into a gem display show, of sorts. Something for rich people to show off their collected wealth. Taking the phone from Kaito, Conan scrolled down on the article, and found his suspicions confirmed.

_Attention, ladies and gentlemen and everyone else!_  
(Especially those who're running this wonderful show!)  
The beautiful April Amethyst has caught my fancy, and I'm afraid I never was very good at ignoring my impulses.  
In other words, you will find yourselves relieved of this jewel a short while after the moon rises this evening; at 2:00 AM, to be precise.  
Please don't stress.  
I'll try to make it easy on all you poor ignorant souls by walking in through the front door like everyone else, but only because this is your first time.  
See you all soon!  
\- Kaitou KID

The signature, of course, was followed by the same doodled grinning caricature as always.

Conan looked up at Kaito's all too devious expression, and the protests he had died at his lips. He wanted to tell Kaito that holding a heist would be rash, but hadn't he just done something almost equally reckless, interfering with this world's justice system?

Besides, if nothing else, this heist would prove to be entertaining.


	6. Chapter 6

To be honest, Conan was very sorely tempted to watch Kaito's upcoming nighttime performance, along with the ensuing chaos that was sure to follow when this world's police discovered his unique method of pranking and playing magic tricks on the pursuers as he escaped. If only to monitor the other and maybe take a little pity on the figures of authority. Unfortunately, however, he had better things to be doing.

Like working on getting them home. Priorities and all, sadly, demanded that he be the more mature one and keep at their goal. Despite appearing a whole decade younger than his companion. He was convinced that Kaito had all the mentality and maturity of a three-year-old.

That, however, was a discussion to be saved for later. “About Hiro and his friends,” he began, causing his companion to turn around and look at him. “Remember that island we talked about? I'm pretty sure they've more than just  _ visited _ the place before, but I don't know if they check on it regularly.” He looked up, meeting Kaito’s eyes. “If they do, then we have to be careful to make sure we don't run into them there.”

“Yeah, having them see us in that particular place isn't exactly an optimal situation,” Kaito agreed. “They do seem like the vigilante type, don't they? Going around and helping save lives from the 'bad guy' and everything, probably risking their own lives in the process.” He shot Conan a significant look, which he took to mean that he did that very same thing. He opened his mouth to voice his protest about how solving cases was  _ different _ , and he  _ could take care of himself, really _ , in the few times that someone tried to pull something -- but Kaito moved on. “It would be a pain to try and explain why we were exploring an abandoned, also likely off-limits, island, and not trying to head back home instead. Which, to be fair, we  _ are _ doing. They just don't know it.”

“Let's try not to be cornered in such a way that we would have to explain that little fact to anyone,” Conan replied drily. Just another secret to stack upon his list of lies. “That can only end in disaster, frankly.”

Kaito laughed. “Aww, you don't think it'll be fun? Blowing everyone's minds with a truth that’s stranger than fiction?” 

“That's what your heists are for -- which, by the way, I do not approve of in the least.” Conan shot him a brief scowl, but it had no bite behind it and melted away quickly, back into one of his more typical neutral pensive looks. “However, I think that it can be useful in another way, too.”

The magician perked up at his words, but seemed a little wary at the same time. “Oh? Let’s hear it. Or do I not want to hear it because it’s one of  _ those _ kinds of ideas, and just go in as usual?” Sounded skeptical about the latter, though.

“You know, I don't think those aforementioned vigilantes would appreciate a flamboyant thief parading around their town, stealing jewels,” Conan hinted, raising a brow. 

Kaito blinked, rapidly figuring out what he was implying. “So, you’re thinking that they’re going to come running over to my heist, and not that island, which  _ you’re _ going to be at, which leaves me as the distraction?” He made a face, like it was a horrible, blasphemous sin to call his heists a mere  _ distraction. _

“Of course, that's assuming that you can distract them for long enough.” Conan rolled his eyes good-naturedly, before a sudden thought struck him. “I hope you realize that you're going to have to make an alibi for yourself. If that robot can't scan you, which I assume is a trait unique to us, they're going to get suspicious. Especially if they remember that 'Kaito-niichan' first showed up in Kaitou Kid's suit. And that I also called you Kaitou Kid.”

“Which would be your fault, but…” Kaito waved his worries away. “Don’t worry about that. I've got a few dummies I can use,” he explained. “Have one of them show up as Kid, with me waving at them from the audience, and then swap me for a dummy and the dummy for me. Or maybe I'll just send them an email with a video of us on our way home.”

“The latter will get both of us caught; we have no idea what their international travel looks like, and we might run into them later,” Conan warned with a shake of his head. “As for the prior... I suppose if you  _ distract _ them enough, and eventually lead them away from the crowd, then they won't have time to pay attention and work towards breaking the illusion. As long as you keep them occupied some way or another, you should be fine.” He huffed, putting his face in his hands. “I can't believe I'm saying this...”

Slowly, a shark's grin split Kaito's face, and his eyes practically lit up with sheer glee. “You know what? I think I like the way you think, tantei-kun.”

“Only because we really need it… And no permanent damage,” Conan said firmly, shooting Kaito a look. “Neither mental nor physical. Don’t scar them, for goodness sakes. Just keep them busy.”

“Of course,” the thief purred, looking very much like the metaphorical cat with canary feathers still in his mouth. “What kind of person do you take me for? I'll take very good care of them and keep them in one piece by the end, no worries at all. You go and focus on your part, and I’ll complete my part. It’ll be fun.”

_ Now _ , Conan thought dryly, and with heavy doses of sarcasm,  _ if only I could figure out why in the  _ **_world_ ** _ that statement would be not at all reassuring. _

And it wasn’t like the decidedly  _ evil _ grin on Kaito’s face was making him feel any better about the situation.

Still, he shook the thoughts off for a later time; he couldn’t babysit Kid for everything, no matter how much he wanted to stick around and make sure the thief wasn’t up to particularly horrifying mischief. So he moved on with only a warning glare, hoping the guy wouldn’t risk making Conan annoyed enough to kick a soccer ball at him. Except that involved thinking logically, which Kaito didn’t quite do… Well, he did recognize threats, at least.

No use debating on it now. “Don’t you need to go and prepare for your heist, or something? I know you like arriving on the scene before the announced time and making little changes to the room.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will. Don’t worry about me, I’m a professional at this.” A pause, and then, “You’ll be fine on your own, I hope? Nobody’s going to pick you up by the scruff and demand to know where your parents are?” Grinning, he reached over to ruffle the detective’s hair.

Conan swatted his hand away in annoyance. “Ha ha, very funny. Except that’s getting old, so get  _ going _ , Kid. I’m more worried about your victims than you or me, to be honest.”

There was a squawk of offended protest from the other, but a sharp glare quickly shut him down and sent him scurrying off to do his job. Finally. The illustrious phantom thief pretended to be gentlemanly and utterly untouchable -- which, admittedly, was rather true for those who didn’t have the capabilities to keep up with him -- but was actually, in Conan’s most honest opinion, a complete  _ child _ . 

\--

Of course, the first problem to solve was actually figuring out a way of getting  _ to _ the island. With Kaito away on heisting duties, Conan couldn’t exactly ask the magician to fly him over on the ever convenient hang glider. 

What he could do, however, was head towards the coast closest to the island at a steady jogging pace. Looking like he had someplace to be had the extra benefit of dissuading people from stopping and asking why a seven-year-old was out and about on his own at this late hour, too. 

Well, his best bet was to check the smaller docks, the ones that were overshadowed by more popular commercial areas and less likely to be noticed. If their suspicions about Callaghan were correct, then the boat would be somewhere there. Unless, of course, the man found a way to destroy it when he decided he no longer needed it anymore… But that wasn’t something to focus on. Yet.

Get there first, and worry about the possible issues with the plan when he had other ways to solve them.

By the time Conan stopped, panting, with the wide ocean within sight, he was longing sorely for the turbo-engine skateboard that Agasa-hakase had designed for him. Of course he’d appreciated the presence of the skateboard beforehand, several times, but this had him wondering if there was a way to have the handy gadget on him at all times.

Knowing the inventor, asking him about such a modification would either turn into a terrible disaster or a tremendous breakthrough, but it didn’t do to reflect on that now. Especially considering that the said professor was currently an entire  _ world _ away...

It put a different perspective on things, for sure. While being shrunk had certainly made things larger, this changed things further. Suddenly, everything seemed bigger as a whole, but even  _ smaller _ individually.

Conan scanned the shoreline -- not that there was much of a shore, and more of a large, extended harbor - and nodded to himself, spotting both big commercial cruisers and large fishing ships. To the side, he could see large boxes of cargo, ready to be shipped out or brought in; he wasn’t sure which, but... None of those were what he was looking for, although they were in the right direction. 

The question was, if he was the culprit, where in the area would he hide a little boat that would be able to get him to his destination without commotion? 

The island he had his sights set on was a decent distance away, from what he'd seen. Long enough that a motorboat would likely be the best choice to remain inconspicuous, unless the guy had some form of submarine travel. Though that risked detection and further attention, too… 

Glancing around, the shrunken detective was relieved to find that most people had left the area, what with it being past work hours and night falling around them. Partially because they were headed towards Kid’s heist, he supposed. It probably wasn’t every day that someone announced ahead of time that they were going to steal a jewel right out of a likely well-protected and well-defended museum.

He’d wish the other luck, except he kind of needed it for himself. Besides, the thief was practically an expert in running around authoritative figures who dealt with him regularly, never mind those who didn’t have experience with him. And he was quick to think on his feet when the situation demanded it, too.

With something of a sigh, Conan dragged a hand over his face.  _ Focus _ .

To get a better idea of the area, he made his way to the edge, peering at the dark water but being careful not to slip and fall into the ocean. He couldn't see very far, but it certainly seemed deep. He followed the edge all the way down one side, and then traced his steps back to the other, until he'd walked the entire length of the dock. It took a while, and stretched a decent distance from his destination of interest, but he wanted a better idea of the construct as a whole. 

Still, it seemed that there were no real oddities for him to take note of. A few strange scratches that didn't look like they came from anything that Conan could think of - flurries of marks, as if hundreds of little items had dragged themselves over the spot -- and some were relatively recent, but otherwise it was a pretty typical harbor.

Kneeling at one of the extended parts of the dock, Conan brushed his fingers over one of the many scratches scarring the marred ground, testing their depth. Shallow -- and definitely recent, definitely caused by many things scraping along. There were tire tracks mixed in there with the scratches as well, leading closer to the edge... And the tracks seemed to skid right into the water, which must've sucked for the owner. Plus whoever might've been in it. 

From the basic rundown he'd mentally mapped out of the harbor, however, Conan had a few ideas of where a little motorboat might've been stashed away in secret.

Beginning with the areas that were closest to the island, he went down his metaphorical checklist of hiding spots. Gaps between platforms? Nope. Slipped in with a larger ship? Nope. Maybe even disguised as a commercial ship? Nope. Nothing was nearly small enough to pass inconspicuously. 

By the time that he was reaching the end of one side again, he was getting a little worried; the further he was from the ideal departure area to the island, the less chances of actually finding the boat. Maybe Callaghan had a separate way of getting to the island, or ended up destroying it or removing it from the area altogether, for some reason or another.

... Or so he thought, as he wearily checked the very last place he could think of -- located at the far edge, hidden in the shadows of a large office building overlooking the waters. The least likely place.

And saw something bobbing in the water, a dull black cover over its entire top. Nearly invisible in the gently lapping waves of the darkened ocean, only noticeable by judicious application of his glasses' night vision, a sharp eye, and perhaps a tinge of last-ditch desperation.

He didn't care; it worked, a boat had been found, and that was all that really mattered at the moment.

Actually getting to the vehicle was a little tricky, and he ended up having to jump into the --  _ cold! _ \-- water and swim over. Only after checking the clarity of the water, as common sense demanded, and it was clean enough that he wouldn't be poisoned on contact. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't keep his chin up well above the waterline. Just in case. 

A tug on the rough fabric covering the boat to test it, before he hauled himself on top of it carefully. On all fours, shivering, he made his way around the edges of the boat, finding the hooks that held the cover in place and releasing them. 

After that, it was only a matter of time to pull back the black cover and wrap himself in the drier side, leaving him in the small and worn motorboat with at least a way to be warm, if not a little more dry. 

Crossing his fingers and hoping that some of the thief's luck had rubbed off on him, Conan searched the boat top to bottom, front and back, for the keys. A quiet curse hissed in his throat when they didn't turn up anywhere -- unless they were in one of the locked little boxes and drawers that he didn't have the tools to poke into. There was also an anchor that the boat was attached to, though with no way to bring it up, he had to untie the rope and let it slither down to the bottom of the sea.

Guilt make him cringe, but he hadn't much of a choice. He could only hope that it didn't cause anything too bad to happen. Maybe report a lost anchor, when he met up with Kaito again.

In the meantime, what Conan  _ did _ find that was helpful, however, were a couple of jumper cables, along with other odds and ends in what looked like a tool bag, one that had been shoved into a storage compartment that was far too small for it. Rushed, likely, in case of a need for emergency repairs. Someone inexperienced in the subject, but was smart enough to learn and push through any possible issues on their own power anyway.

No keys? That was fine. The wires would work, too.

Hotwiring the motorboat only took a short while of busywork, and remembering how to operate the controls took even less time. In a matter of minutes, he was pulling away from the shadows and shooting through the waves, looking out towards the distant island he knew was there. The fall of night’s darkness over the sky, despite being broken up by scattered stars, made it impossible to actually see anything  _ that _ far off, even with night vision activated on his glasses.

While worn and apparently having been left there for a while, the boat still operated as if it were in tip-top condition. Everything appeared to be in working order, and it responded quickly to his controls. A few unfamiliar options were available, and a few familiar ones were not, but Conan didn't absolutely  _ need _ them to operate the vehicle normally, so he didn't touch them. 

He'd probably have time to poke at the buttons and levers later, but by this point the heist was about to start -- in an hour or so, his watch told him -- so he'd have to hurry if he wanted to have enough time to search the island for information. 

Orienting himself was simple enough with the help of the moon and -- thankfully, but strangely -- familiar stars. He aimed with care, and was rewarded for picking the right direction with an odd shape rising over the quietly swelling and subsiding waves, protesting whispers of sound and murmuring gurgles in his ear as the boat hummed smoothly along.

The first thing that became clear to him was the building; low, run-down, and looking all too neglected over the long years, it stood against the starlit sky in a massive block of complete blackness. Next to catch his eye was the metal fence as it gleamed in the moonlight, slick with sea spray. A few signs were posted on it, warning of danger and a quarantined area, but Conan doubted that there was actually anything infectious here. More likely a scare tactic, to dissuade trespassers dumber than himself. 

A slight tsk in his throat, he slowly guided the boat around in a large circle, skimming the coast all around the large island, trying to find a way in. Unfortunately, everything appeared to be fenced off. 

That wasn't to say that the fence was  _ that _ much of a hindrance, though. 

Once Conan found a suitable place to dock the motorboat in a secluded area on the far side of the island, he turned it off and carefully stepped onto the very narrow strip of space in front of the fence, careful not to touch any of the links. Yet. 

He hadn't seen any warning about it being electrified or not, despite the steady scattering of signs that proclaimed hazards to one's health (funny that they always said danger, yet not what the specific danger  _ was _ ), but he still kept an eye out for any possible indicators. He spent a few minutes listening for the telltale humming, before daring to brush a finger lightly across the moist metal.

... Nothing. Not even the slightest sting of electricity retaliated at him, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief before dropping back into the boat. Pulling the darkly colored cover off of himself, Conan hooked the material back into place over the top of the boat and stood on the space in front of the fence again, this time having no reserves about reaching out to grab the fence to make sure he didn't fall into the sea. One dip in the water was enough for the night, thank you very much. Involuntary swims were much less appreciated. 

Casting a glance around, Conan rattled the fence. It seemed sturdy enough, so he hiked his grip up a little higher, and then heaved himself up half a step. A moment later, he jammed his feet into the gaps in the fence, so as to assure his footing. Reached higher, found a new grab hold, sought out a new place for his feet, and continued moving upward.

Once he got to the top of the fence, he swung his legs over to the other side and crawled down about half of the height, before simply letting go and dropping the rest of the way. 

The landing sent a jolt up his legs, but it wasn't too terrible. He shook it off with a couple shakes of the said limbs, and then glanced around.

A couple birds fluttered here and there, disturbed by his appearance and the rattling of the fence, but otherwise it was about as quiet as could be expected. There would probably be more animal life out and about during the day, but it was already pretty far into the night. Not that he minded the relative peace; it was more of the opposite, actually. Less things to worry about in regards to interference.

Conan kept his steps light and soundless as he checked the perimeter of the -- laboratory? -- building, looking for a way in. All of the doors he checked were firmly locked, but as things turned out, that didn’t really end up mattering.

It was easy enough to find the hole that someone had cut right into the side of a wall, especially since it was located right behind a part of the ground that looked highly scorched, for some reason. A brush of his finger on one of the marks confirmed fire, as well as some… possible chemical corrosion. Blunt impact, too.

... Morbid curiosity wondered how  _ that _ ended up happening. An urgent sense of time said it didn’t matter, and to move on. 

He stepped into the hole in the wall, wary of accidentally catching himself on the jaggedly melted edges -- he couldn't really tell what caused it at first glance, but it was messy work -- and quietly walked down the hall. Thankfully, variously scattered emergency lights continued to flicker and illuminate his path, so he didn't have to make his way through in complete darkness. He wasn’t sure if his watch flashlight would’ve been able to sustain him through the entire trip, not if he was as thorough as he wanted to be with investigating the place.

It did confirm his thoughts about others having been here recently, though. Even emergency lights couldn't just trudge on forever on their own, unless there was something like solar or wind energy powering them, which he hadn’t seen any of the sort.

With Conan purposefully silencing his own footsteps, the lack of sound was eerie. Some miniscule pinpricks of dust were stirred up as he passed by, but the air was otherwise still -- not even his breaths seemed to shift the air, miniscule and carefully controlled as they were. While it was doubtful that anyone would be waiting in or keeping an eye on this laboratory, the detective had long since decided that it was better to be safe than sorry.

One of the things he noted as he walked on under the faltering illumination was the presence of various scratches along the walls and floor, light and shallow -- but recent, if he was looking at them correctly. It was impossible to be sure, especially with the poor lighting, but it almost seemed similar to the scratch marks he’d noticed on the harbor.

That didn’t mean he was any closer to figuring out what they  _ were _ , though.

… A door was open.

It wasn’t a question at all in regards to whether or not he should pass through it, because Conan didn’t even hesitate before stepping through the entryway and striding into the separate room. 

He was greeted with what could only be called a  _ mess _ . Parts of the ground had been torn up and strewn about, with jagged shards of glass and metal scattered here and there. Something mechanical, its shape resembling the bottom edge of a circle, had been knocked over; the inside of the arc looked ravaged, with wires poking out. Nothing sparked or gave any indication of humming energy, but Conan steered clear regardless.

His attention was drawn to a mess of rocky debris that seemed to have crashed down on a some sort of observatory room that had once been filled with technology. Picking his way over, careful not to twist his ankle or otherwise injure himself on the uneven ground, the small detective was  _ relatively _ sure that there wasn’t anything that could be scavenged, but just in case -- by some miracle or another --  _ something _ had escaped being crushed by it all… It was obvious that all of the monitors and screens had been broken, so there wasn’t a way to view anything here, but what about the actual data storage parts? Where was the backup retainer of information, if there was one?

Unless  _ this _ was the backup… Probably unlikely, though, considering how it was in a room that probably hadn’t been for mere storage purposes.

For some reason, the broken edge of a circle made an uneasy prickle crawl across the back of his neck, something wary coiling at the back of his mind, but Conan spared only a second glance to the apparent scrap before going back to sifting carefully through the destruction before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LMAO WHO REMEMBERS THIS
> 
> it's not finished ofc but I feel bad for leaving you all on that for like... two years... so here, have the half-finished next chapter that I have sitting around!
> 
> this is in celebration of Shinichi's birthday. hap birf, detective dork.
> 
> honestly maybe I'll come back to this over the summer?? depends how quickly I write nihil novi. but yeah! if you've stuck around this long, thank you, I love you, and I hope you enjoy this little thing ~
> 
> also!! I have 1412 hits as of the posting of this chapter, I feel like that's reason to celebrate.


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